A total of 102 properties traded hands, compared with 108 in 2001, according to Neiman, a principal with Inverness Properties LLC.

The report shows dollar volume and the number of transactions was the lowest since 1995, when 96 properties sold for $569 million.

The largest sale was the $91.7 million Crescent Real Estate of Fort Worth, TX paid for the 670,000-sf Manville Plaza in Downtown Denver, according to Neiman. He did not include the $96 million that TGS North American Real Estate Investment Trust of Calgary, Alberta, paid for the Prime discount outlet malls in Castle Rock and Loveland.

Neiman says he considers the Loveland center, north of Boulder, as too far outside of the metro area. He didn't have an individual price for the Castle Rock project.

Even without those two sales, however, retail centers dominated the sales activity in 2002, he notes.

In the past, multi-tenant office buildings account for as many as seven of the top 10 sales, but only two made the list in 2002.

"Anything retail sold," Neiman tells GlobeSt.com.

Retail may not be quite as popular in 2003, but otherwise, the coming year will be pretty much a mirror image of 2002, Neiman predicts.

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