The top brokers handled a record $1.1 billion in transactionslast year. For comparison, that is more than the total sales of allcommercial properties sold by all brokers in the Denver-area adecade ago. It wasn't until 1997 that all sales in the metro areatopped $1 billion. The Heavy Hitters numbers would have been evenhigher for 2005, but CB Richard Ellis is no longer a member ofDmcar, and didn't participate in the competition.

Rich Calhoun, who heads the Denver office of CB Richard Ellis,says Dmcar provides more benefits for smaller companies than largeones. "We no longer belong to Dmcar for a number of reasons,"Calhoun tells GlobeSt.com. "It does not make a whole lot offinancial sense for us. They offer education programs, but we haveour own professional education in-house and our own educationbudget."

Marc Lippitt, principal of Denver-based Unique Properties, andthe current president of the Dmcar board, tells GlobeStcom hethinks all commercial real estate brokerage firms should belong toDmcar. "They get a lot of benefits," Lippitt says. "I'm told we'rethe biggest commercial real estate chapter in the country. We haveabout 2,000 members. I didn't know that until I was namedpresident. I would have thought it would be a city bigger thanDenver."