This is the third year Inside Tucson Business has looked back on the year to try to figure out what the most important events were. But hindsight becomes even more clear from a greater distance.
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These were the Top 10 most impactful business news events each of the past two years. How good were we? You decide. Or better yet, just reminisce over 2005.
2006
1. The region’s population boom and
reaching 1 million.
2. Voter approval of a $2.1 billion,
20-year regional transportation plan.
3. Housing slowdown, but still second
best year on record.
4. Legislature approves extension Rio
Nuevo tax increment financing
district to raise another $650 million.
5. Manufacturing comes to the region:
Production started at Pella Windows
facility and La Costeña Foods was
gearing up to start its cannery.
6. Eight new commercial retail devel-
opments are in various stages of
development.
7. C-Path’s work to streamlining devel-
opment of pharmaceuticals grows.
8. Voters decide: set state minimum
wage, put limits on government’s use
of eminent domain condemnation,
limit rights of illegal immigrants and
reject ban on same-sex marriage.
9. Tucson Regional Economic Oppor-
tunities (TREO) is preparing an eco-
nomic development blueprint that
"promises to be the most important
document ever produced insofar as
outlining a future for the region."
10. Regional call center employment
reaches 16,000 as a result of expan-
sions by Citigroup, Convergys,
Teletech, APAC and Geico.
2005
1. Housing boom: March 2005 marked
the first time ever more than 1,000
building permits had been issued in
a single month, homes stayed on the
market an average of just 26 days that
summer and fetched record prices.
2. Base Realignment and Closure com-
mission and Defense Department
decide to maintain staffing levels at
Davis-Monthan Air Force Base and
to increase them at Fort Huachuca.
3. Separate economic development
entities are combined into one Tuc-
son Regional Economic Opportuni-
ties Inc. (TREO) and Joe Snell is hired
from Denver as its president
and CEO.
4. Copper prices rebound after seven
years and climb as high as $2.28 per
pound.
5. Raytheon Missile Systems reports
over $3 billion in quarterly sales.
6. Republicans voted off Tucson City
Council, which is seen as a loss for
business.
7. U.S. Rep. Jim Kolbe announces he will
not seek a 12th two-year term repre-
senting Southern Arizona in
Congress.
8 (Tie) C-Path officially opens its doors
to begin work streamlining ways to
develop pharmaceuticals and
8. (Tie) Pella Corp. announces it will
open regional window manufactur-
ing facility in Tucson, the first
major economic development
announcement from TREO.
10. JW Marriott Starr Pass Resort & Spa
opens. After 12 years of planning, the
$72 million, 575-room resort on 50
acres in the Tucson Mountains is
the first full-scale resort complex to
open in more than 20 years.
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