Business grew and evolved in unexpected ways in 2006. From a rash of foreclosures that helped transform residential real estate into a bonanza for buyers to firms cutting and adding hundreds of jobs, the Boulder-Broomfield business scene twisted and turned in ways that directly affected people’s lives.

The Daily Camera business staff selected five topics as the top stories for which the year should be remembered.

Picking a manageable number of topics as the most noteworthy proved difficult, and some truly notable occurrences missed the cut.

In other years, the summertime decision by grocer Albertsons LLC to close both its Boulder stores and leave the city after more than 30 years probably would have made a top stories list. But big-picture trends overtook that and other important topics in 2006.

What made the list this year – mergers and acquisitions, mass layoffs, retail growth, the maturation of a cherished local industry and Boulder reaching out to employers – were events that will leave their mark on the community for years to come.

1. Acquisitions galore

Deals merging at least 18 local companies with other businesses dominated the headlines in 2006.

The transactions involved more than $8 billion in stock and cash. The bonanza was part of a national surge in dealmaking, sometimes reaching a dizzying pace.

Early in the year, West Corp., the Omaha, Neb., company that dished out $575 million in a matter of days to buy Longmont-based Intrado inc. and Louisville-based Raindance Communications found itself being bought just a few weeks later.

Six local deals were announced or closed in May alone.

The deals combined international hard drive makers Seagate Technology and Maxtor, changing Longmont’s employment scene. On a more local front, longtime local business-to-business market firm Leopard became part of international advertising giant OgilvyOne. Internet search goliath Google Inc. snapped up Boulder’s @Last Software, while Microsoft Inc. bought Vexcel Corp., also of Boulder.

Broomfield’s McData Corp., a storage network equipment maker, is being bought by its rival, Austin, Texas-based Brocade Communications Inc., for about $715 million. The deal’s closure has been dragged out by Federal Trade Commission scrutiny.

Level 3 Communications Inc., a Broomfield-based telecommunications company, did its part in the merger mania, buying no fewer than five companies in 2006 after acquiring another large regional telecom in late 2005. Its acquisitions alone involved more than $4 billion in stock and cash.

– Greg Avery

2. Layoffs rattle area; new companies bring jobs

Throughout the year, the area’s technology companies trimmed down and eliminated more than 1,300 positions.

The bulk of the area’s layoffs occurred when hard-drive maker Seagate Technology acquired competitor Maxtor Corp. and about 640 positions were cut in Longmont, where both companies had campuses.

After the Seagate-Maxtor layoffs, Longmont storage company Cornice Inc. held a job fair that attracted interest from many of those who lost their jobs at Maxtor. But by the end of the year, Cornice followed in the steps of its tech brethren. The maker of small consumer storage devices let go as many as 69 people.

As part of Sun Microsystems Inc.’s plan to cut thousands of jobs companywide, layoffs occurred intermittently at its Broomfield and Louisville campuses – resulting in more than 575 job losses.

More cuts came to Longmont when Advanced Micro Devices cut 75 people as it moved its operations to Fort Collins.

The past 12 months also brought some new names and some new hopes for job growth to the area.

This included advertising agency Crispin Porter + Bogusky’s new office in Gunbarrel and Honda’s new data center in Longmont. Crispin Porter’s local office has grown to close to 150 employees – a number the agency expects to be “a couple hundred” by next year. Honda’s center should employ about 20, but if it moved some disaster recovery operations as well, it could mean more than 100 jobs.

In Boulder, new retail center Twenty Ninth Street expected to add about 2,300 jobs, most of them part-time positions.

The area also gained the headquarters operations of ski company Vail Resorts and Tyco’s Nellcor Puritan Bennett, a medical device maker. Vail Resorts employs about 175 people and Nellcor said its operations could be close to 300-people strong within 12 months.

– Alicia Wallace

3. A mall arises

Only a Grinch doling out coal today could have missed that a shopping mall rose out of the central Boulder pit where Crossroads Mall once stood. The long-awaited Macerich Co. replacement mall opened Oct. 13 – yes, a Friday – with more than 40 stores operating by month’s end.

The night prior to opening for business, Macerich Co. threw a grand opening fund-raising party to celebrate the mall and its interactive science displays scattered around the property. The party features a chilly concert by Thomas Dolby, the singer whose “She Blinded Me With Science” hit made him a 1980s icon.

With the debate over the bad grammar in its name forgotten, Twenty Ninth Street got on with its real mission of selling fashion to women, hardware to men and iPods to seemingly everyone in creation.

If the outdoor, 200,000-square-foot mall lacked anything at its opening it was some of its most anticipated tenants: A 16-screen Cinemark movie theater, a Wild Oats flagship grocery store, an Anthropology clothes seller, Sephora makeup shop, a Borders Books & Music and four sit-down restaurants. All those are expected to open by July 4.

Meanwhile, a slew of retail areas – Twin Peaks, Wal-Mart and Harvest Junction in Longmont; Larkridge in Thornton; Northlands in Broomfield; and Crossroads Commons in Boulder – opened, expanded, announced plans to expand or won crucial support to get built.

– Greg Avery

4. Organics grow, raise concern

Natural and organics products are no longer niche and because of that, the local hub had a busy past 12 months.

While natural grocery stores Whole Foods and Wild Oats reported continuing revenue growth, mainstream players including Safeway and Wal-Mart put a greater focus on the sector’s products.

Consolidation also continued to bring together once-small, independent companies.

One large acquisition came at the hands of the newly formed Boulder Specialty Brands, which bought the maker of Smart Balance and Earth Balance products.

As the industry grew, some questioned whether bigger was necessarily better.

This question blew out in national debate with the organic dairy sector – and notably two local companies – in the center.

Horizon Organic Dairy and Aurora Organic Dairy were criticized by consumer and activist groups who claimed the large-scale dairies were not following regulations, were putting smaller farmers out of business and failed to live up to organic movement’s ideals.

Other notable local moves included the resignation of Wild Oats’ chief executive officer.

This created speculation over whether Wild Oats might become the target of a buyout attempt.

Locally, the natural grocery market got tighter. Sunflower Markets signed a lease for its first Boulder location, Whole Foods submitted plans to make its Boulder store its largest in the nation. Wild Oats started construction on its flagship store at Twenty Ninth Street and moved its corporate headquarters to the mall.

– Alicia Wallace

5. Boulder adopts incentives

Boulder was the only city on the Front Range without a business incentive program, but that changed in September when the City Council approved a pilot program for growth and retention of key businesses.

The incentives are targeted at “primary employers” that generate at least 75 percent of their revenue outside Boulder County, bringing money and jobs to the area.

The plan, which the city’s economic vitality budget will fork out $850,000 to fund through the end of 2007, features:

A flexible rebate program that allows the city to negotiate a package of fee and tax incentives to meet individual needs.

A training assistance program that provides matching funds of up to $1,000 for employee education.

An owner-occupied loan pool that helps businesses purchase real estate in Boulder with reduced down-payments.

A parks and recreation employee discount program that allows people who work in Boulder to buy passes at the same rates as residents.

Also, applicants for the rebate program must also meet three of five social sustainability criteria, such as offering health insurance to full-time employees, promoting a diverse work force, supporting local nonprofit groups, providing dependent care assistance and paying average wages above the Colorado average of $51,022 annually.

– Matt Branaugh