Southwest Florida's economy has ridden on the back of the real estate and construction industries in recent years, so when they stumbled, nearly everyone felt the jolt.

After several blockbuster years, the residential real estate market came to a screeching halt as inventory overflowed and buyers disappeared. Prices plateaued in the first half of 2006 and then dropped, nudging a shift to a buyers' market.

While some investors had made big returns on quick flips in 2003 and 2004, now they found themselves saddled with houses and condos they couldn't sell or afford to keep. Reports trickled in that realtors, especially those who had jumped into the market when it was hot, were looking for other jobs.

Developers pulled out of several major planned projects, but even the real estate slowdown didn't seem to curb the labor shortage. Construction workers kept busy with backlogs of work, and jobs in that industry continued to grow, especially in specialty trades. With unemployment still less than 3 percent in Lee County and not much higher in Collier and Charlotte counties, employers continued to scramble to fill jobs.

On the other hand, the drop in prices made housing slightly more available to the many working residents in the region who were having trouble either buying or finding a place to rent. By the end of the year, sales accelerated.

With effects of the slowdown rippling through all industries, real estate was the year's biggest story, but certainly not the only one. Here's a glance back at 2006.

REAL ESTATE AND DEVELOPMENT

Losers: residential developers and sellers

Sales volume slowed in the first two quarters, although prices took longer to drop. New single-family permits declined, but some argued the market was stabilizing, returning to levels experienced in the early 2000s before the investor-fueled boom. Some sellers decided to cut their losses while others tried to come up with creative alternatives to make a profit.

Loser: WCI Communities

The slowdown caused high-rise headaches for WCI Communities Inc., the giant Bonita Springs-based developer. Layoffs were announced this past summer and the company pulled out of plans to build the Sabal Bay development, which was zoned for some 2,000 homes, 18 golf courses and 260,000 square feet of commercial space east of Naples. WCI's second quarter earnings fell nearly 70 percent compared to a year earlier. Revenues were down 21 percent. Company officials blamed the drooping national numbers primarily on the Florida market, especially Florida's west coast.

Losers: Port Charlotte and Fort Myers

Developers wrote off the time and money they already had invested and backed out of several multimillion-dollar partnership projects with municipalities that are struggling to draw new life. Stock Development walked away from Murdock Village in Charlotte County, a $93 million mixed-use project aimed at creating a town center in Port Charlotte. In downtown Fort Myers, WCI Communities dropped out of a 5.6-acre riverfront project, and then Naples-based Antaramian Development Group also withdrew its offer to work on the city-owned property, sending city officials back to the drawing board.

Win, lose or draw: The River District and Cape Coral

In downtown Fort Myers, which redevelopment officials have rebranded as the River District, construction started on several high-rises and other projects, including Oasis, St. Tropez/Riviera, Cypress Club, First Street Village, Riverwalk at Sunset, and Monaco Resort & Spa condo-hotel; and the first tower at High Point Place was opening for move-ins. The real estate slowdown, however, raises questions about how soon many of the units will be filled.

In Cape Coral, Hampton Inn & Suites opened in April and construction began on two other commercial projects. Several other much-anticipated projects have yet to emerge.

Winner: Antaramian Development Group

In spite of its Fort Myers project falling through, Antaramian lands in the winners column after finally getting the go-ahead on the Imperial Landing project, a mixed-use development in Bonita Springs. It had gone back and forth with the city council-the former council gave the project the thumbs up, and then it was voted down by new council members, who reversed that decision after public outcry. The project is now under review.

In addition, Antaramian's Renaissance Village booked 100 sales in less than two weeks for residences that will be part of a mixed-use project on the old Grand Central Station site in downtown Naples-one piece of Naples Bay Resort.

Losers: GD&W competitors

Commercial real estate in Southwest Florida got a jolt in July when two major players merged into one company. Todd Gates, CEO of Naples-based developer Gates McVey, joined forces with Frank D'Alessandro and Tom Woodyard of Fort Myers-based D'Alessandro & Woodyard commercial realtors. The deal is expected to yield annual revenues of $1 billion.

The new company is named-go figure-Gates D'Alessandro & Woodyard LLC.

Winners: mega-developers

After years of wrangling, the long-anticipated Babcock Ranch deal was roped into reality this summer. Florida taxpayers coughed up $351 million, including $41 million from Lee County, to take over 74,000 acres of environmentally valuable land along the Charlotte County-Lee County line. Developer Kitson & Partners through Morgan Stanley Real Estate Fund bought the remaining 17,000 acres, where a town of some 19,500 homes and commercial ventures is proposed. Not everyone agrees it's a win for taxpayers, the environment, or Charlotte and Lee counties.

Other major development projects include the new town of Ave Maria in Collier County, with the new university as its centerpiece, which is starting to emerge from the scrublands near Immokalee. Housing offerings and retail outlets are slated to open in mid-2007.

And Collier Enterprises is working on another potential town next door to Ave Maria. Dubbed Big Cypress-not to be confused with the national preserve nearby-it could have 25,000 homes in a collection of villages and hamlets on a massive 22,000 acres.

Winners: renters

Although the median home price is still high in comparison to salaries, the drop in prices has expanded the rental inventory. The big trend had been to turn apartment complexes into condos. With the softening numbers, a number of prominent apartment-to-condo operations made the old switcheroo and returned to the rental biz.

Winners: a few middle-income house hunters

In an innovative move, The Bonita Bay Group teamed up with an assortment of for-profit and not-for-profit organizations to provide housing at costs that teachers and faculty members can afford. It bought 60 condos in Estero as part of the Homes for Teachers project.

And Rep. Mike Davis of Naples won a serious coup this year when Gov. Jeb Bush signed an affordable housing bill Davis sponsored. Among its lofty goals, the $516 million bill will help state residents, including middle-income earners, such as teachers and police officers, find affordable housing in the communities where they work.

Losers: builders

Not only did the market fall back to earth, leaving some big builders with big inventories, but they also faced continuing rises in impact fees. Collier County has the most impact fees of any Florida county-12 in all, adding tens of thousands of dollars to the price of a home. Lee County ranks No. 3 for the most impact fees, which went up in October when commissioners voted to triple road impact fees.

Loser: Immokalee

The Florida Tradeport at the Immokalee Regional Airport fell victim to the long permitting process when the Skytruck company pulled out of plans to locate there. It took with it the potential for more than 100 jobs.

AGRICULTURE

Losers: citrus growers

In January, the state stopped chopping down trees in "citrus canker quarantine zones," as agriculture officials decided the citrus canker disease is here to stay and began considering alternatives to combat it. Bad news quickly followed when ag experts confirmed cases of citrus greening in Cape Coral and elsewhere in Lee County. The bacterial disease, which is spread by a small insect, kills the tree and renders the fruit unusable.

Winners: farmers

Despite the hurricanes of 2004 and 2005 and the diseases that have damaged crops, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced this summer that Florida farmers had record cash receipts for 2005-$7.7 billion worth.

AVIATION

March came in like a lion as the wrecking balls and bulldozers demolished the old terminal at Southwest Florida International Airport. In its place will rise the anticipated Skyplex Commerce Center, an aeronautic business park that would help fund Port Authority operations. Meanwhile, the new terminal at SWFIA celebrated its one-year anniversary in September. The number of passengers leveled off after a record-breaking 2005, but monthly numbers still were far ahead of previous years.

Page Field in Fort Myers saw slow and steady expansion, including new hangars and ramp space.

At Charlotte County Airport, which continued to recover from Hurricane Charley, construction is beginning on a new terminal. In the adjoining commerce park, UPS and FedEx announced plans to expand their presences there, and Publix Super Markets is working on plans for a new distribution center, which would bring about 300 jobs.

The Naples flying community got some good news in September when Delta Airlines reported two years of strong ticket sales for daily flights from Naples Municipal Airport to Atlanta. In 2004, local businesses and individuals had pledged $700,000 as a guarantee to persuade the airline to offer the flights. The donors are due to get their money back. In addition, the airport completed most of the repairs from damage caused by Hurricane Wilma in 2005. More than $9 million from insurance, FEMA, FDOT and the FAA was spent on repairs and capital improvements.

HIGHER EDUCATION

Winner: Florida Gulf Coast University

FGCU launched an accelerated pre-med program in conjunction with the University of South Florida and started its Collegiate High School, which lets local high school students complete their junior and senior years at FGCU, where they take college credit classes. FGCU was also accepted into the NCAA's Division I. The move into big-league college sports will occur when FGCU joins the Atlantic Sun Conference for the 2007-2008 school year. FGCU also got the ball rolling to open a satellite campus in Charlotte County. An advisory committee is recommending a 150-acre site just east of U.S. 17.

Winner: Edison College

Edison College began offering a baccalaureate degree in 2006. With the Bachelor of Applied Science in Public Safety Management, Edison is a pioneer in the growing trend of four-year degrees being offered at community colleges. This year, the school announced plans for its fourth campus, to be located near LaBelle. It already has campuses in Lee, Charlotte and Collier counties.

Winner: International College

International College opened a new campus in Fort Myers, graduated the largest class in its history and renamed its business school after Kenneth Oscar Johnson, a self-made millionaire and part-time Naples resident who made a large endowment. International College also expanded its program offerings, including one that focuses on anti-terrorism and intelligence gathering.

Winner: Ave Maria University

While the new Catholic school continues to operate from a temporary campus in Naples, construction continued all year on Ave Maria's permanent site near Immokalee. This includes the dramatic 100-foot high oratory, the campus library, a student activities center and classroom buildings. School officials expect to open the new campus by fall 2007.

HEALTHCARE

Winner: Lee Memorial officials

Verdict's still out for: patients, taxpayers, physicians

A bombshell dropped in September when top honchos at Lee Memorial Health System announced they had secretly negotiated a deal to buy its biggest competitors-HCA's Southwest Florida Regional Medical Center and Gulf Coast Hospital-for $535 million. This comes just a few years after pleas from Lee Memorial for a tax hike to keep its trauma center afloat. Officials claim that the consolidation will help the system provide better, more cost-effective patient care, but not everyone agrees, and some physicians are unhappy at the loss of competition.

Despite the sale, work continues on the construction of the new 550,000-square-foot hospital HCA has been building at the corner of Metro and Daniels parkways, the current site of Gulf Coast Hospital. Crews broke ground in January on the project that is bringing Southwest Florida Regional and Gulf Coast Hospital together on one campus, scheduled to open in 2008.

Winner: Health Management Associates

In May, Health Management Associates of Naples purchased the Cleveland Clinic in Collier County for $125.5 million. HMA changed the name to Physicians Regional Medical Center. HMA also is building Collier Regional Medical Center in eastern Collier. The new 60-acre, $75 million medical facility is tentatively targeted to open in February.

Winner: Lehigh Acres patients

Rapid population growth in Lehigh Acres means rapid patient growth, which has led to an expansion of the emergency room at Lehigh Regional Medical Center. The 15,000-square-foot addition is expected to be complete this spring.

Winner: Charlotte parents

Aimed at keeping ailing babies closer to home, the Peace River Regional Medical Center in Port Charlotte received the go-ahead this past summer to build a seven-bed neonatal unit, which is nearing completion.

MEDIA

Winners: news junkies

A big year in local TV got off to a bang in January, when the Journal Broadcast Group in Milwaukee bought WFTX-TV FOX4. The new owners quickly added a four-hour morning newscast and a new, fast-paced 11 p.m. newscast.

And the Naples Daily News got into the TV biz with a daily afternoon newscast, Studio 55. The show features the day's top stories, features, sports and is heavily tied into the newspaper's Web site. It's the latest harbinger of media companies exploring new avenues to connect to their audience. The Daily News also scored a win when county commissioners approved a contentious rezoning, clearing the way for the paper to build new headquarters in north Naples.

Winners: channel surfers

The new CW network launched in September, the result of a merger between the WB and UPN networks. WTVK-TV became the local affiliate, and the former WB6 spent the summer pushing their new name, CW6.

Meanwhile, UPN8 got left out in the cold, so it turned in September to the start-up MyNetworkTV, the new "netlet" offering evening soap operas, for an affiliation deal.

Joe Schwartzel, the owner of Meridian Broadcasting, a Southwest Florida radio station operator, formed Sun Broadcasting early this year and made a bid to buy WTVK. At press time, that deal was awaiting FCC approval.

Verdict's still out for:

Time Warner subscribers

In August, Comcast Cable of Southwest Florida completed its acquisition of the local Time Warner Cable operation and its estimated 90,000 customers. Comcast was spending the rest of the year and early 2007 transitioning these customers to their new cable system. With about 350,000 households in Lee and Collier, Comcast covers most of Southwest Florida.

RETAIL

Winners: shoppers

Losers: employers

En garde! The dueling regional malls became a reality this year as construction continued and stores started to open at the mammoth Coconut Point shopping mall in Bonita Springs and the giant Gulf Coast Town Center in Estero. Dozens of stores at the new centers opened or announced their first-ever Southwest Florida locations in 2006, including Ruth's Chris Steak House and Ann Taylor Loft at Coconut Point and Babies "R" Us and Belk department store at Town Center.

Meanwhile, Edison Mall in Fort Myers, and Coastland Mall and the Waterside Shops in Naples are undergoing major makeovers meant to draw new shoppers and to stay competitive with the new mega-malls in south Lee County.

The burgeoning number of retail centers is creating lots of new jobs, but with unemployment hovering at next to nothing, it's hard to fill those jobs and to hold onto employees being lured away.

Winners: decorators and homeowners

In May, the International Design Center opened in Estero, greatly expanding the region's access to first-rate design and home products.

Verdict's still out for: Sanibel shop owners

R.L.R. Investments continued snapping up properties on Sanibel and Captiva islands, including most of Sanibel's major shopping plazas. The Ohio-based company has started renovating some of the properties. Some Sanibel leaders expressed concerns that R.L.R. would bring in lots of chain stores, and public meetings began in the summer of 2006 to explore limiting "formula retail" on the island.

Winners: Cape residents

After years of driving across the bridges to Fort Myers and points beyond, Cape Coral residents started to see more options north of the river. Starbucks plans to open a Cape Coral location, and other projects are open, under construction or announced-a Kohl's department store, a Home Depot, a SuperTarget, a Mel's Diner, a Chili's restaurant and a Sports Authority. In August, Miami-based Pollo Tropical restaurant chain opened a store in Cape Coral and broke the company's all-time sales record for a first week.

TOURISM

Winners: Captiva businesses

A year and a half after Hurricane Charley ripped right across Captiva Island, the famed resort on its northern tip finally reopened its first phase in March. Now known as the South Seas Island Resort, the property underwent approximately $140 million in repairs, new construction and upgrades. Its reopening has more vacationers returning to the island, promising to pump life back into the rest of the tourism businesses there.

Winners: affluent visitors

Potential losers: regular folks

South Seas Island Resort is one of several resorts that have been bought in the past two years by LXR Luxury Resorts, an affiliate of Blackstone Real Estate Advisors. In Collier County, LXR in 2005 took over the former Registry Resort & Club, the Edgewater Beach Hotel & Club and the Naples Grande Golf Club. The Registry now goes under the moniker Naples Grande Resort & Club.

The company went on a spending spree on Sanibel and Captiva in 2006, acquiring not only the South Seas resort, but also the Best Western Sanibel Island Sunset Beach Resort, The Dunes Golf & Tennis Club, Sanibel Inn, Seaside Inn, Song of the Sea as well as Sundial Beach & Golf Resort.

With the renovations and reopening of South Seas have come some higher costs and speculation that a shift to a luxury focus could price time-share owners out of their long-time vacation spot.

It was checkout time at the Radisson Suites Beach Resort on Marco Island when it was sold to the Marriott Vacation Club International. The hotel closed in July as the property began the switch to a time-share facility. Also making waves on Marco, the Marriott Resort, Golf Club & Spa is in the middle of a $150 million extreme makeover, including a new infinity-edge pool.

Losers: Zoomers

Zoomers Family Fun Park in south Fort Myers was supposed to open in early 2006, but the company ran out of money. The half-built facility has sat empty and untouched all year, much to the chagrin of area children. Word is the park is up for sale.

UBERLOSER

There can be little doubt that former U.S. Rep. Mark Foley, who represented portions of Southwest Florida, is this year's biggest loser of all.

HELLO/GOODBYE

Goodbye: Patty Berg, longtime Fort Myers resident and a founding member of the Ladies Professional Golf Association, died in September.

Goodbye: Strong Fort Myers Mayor Jim Humphrey. Hello: Weak Mayor Jim Humphrey. The transition occurred after the City Council hired a ity manager, technically removing Humphrey from day-to-day managerial roles.

Hello: Anthony Shoemaker, who came on board as the City of Palm's interim city manager in June.

Goodbye: Craig Pisaris-Henderson stepped down as CEO of Fort Myers-based MIVA Inc., a company he founded as Findwhat.com. He retained a seat on the company's board.

Goodbye: Paul Nadler left as music director and conductor of the Southwest Florida Symphony Orchestra.

Goodbye: Mary Bensel, general manager of the Barbara B. Mann Performing Arts Hall, resigned in August.

Hello: Scott Saxon succeeded Bensel at Mann Hall.

Goodbye: Cape Coral Councilman Jim Jeffers resigned in September to focus on his failing health. He passed away a week later.

Goodbye: After a battle with melanoma, Steve Holmes died within days of losing an election bid for a circuit court judgeship.

Goodbye: Ed Henke, assistant executive director at Southwest Florida International Airport, retired in June.

Hello: Brenda Talbert started in March as executive vice president of the Collier Building Industry Association. She replaced Scott Coulombe, who left in December 2005.

Goodbye: Jan Eustis, the CEO of Lee Mental Health Inc., announced her resignation in February, hanging on while the agency conducted a national search for her replacement.

Hello: Nancy Langman, who succeeded Eustis in August.

Goodbye: H.B. "Benny" Starling stepped down as head of the Immokalee Chamber of Commerce.

Hello: Richard Rice took the baton at the Immokalee Chamber.

Goodbye: Steve Greenstein stepped down as the executive director of the Sanibel-Captiva Chamber of Commerce.

Hello: Ric Base stepped into Greenstein's spot.

Goodbye: After 40 years in Florida, Steve Bortone, director of the Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation Marine Lab, left to head up a Sea Grant program and teach at University of Minnesota at Duluth.

Goodbye: Doug St. Cerny lost his longtime seat on the Lee County Commission, and former commissioner Andy Coy failed to win back the seat he relinquished to run for Congress.

Sammy Mack contributed

to this report.