The committee has raised more than $250,000, topping the publication cost and seeding a fund for updates every five years. Robert Grunnah, president of investments, and Darrell Hurmis, executive vice president, both with locally based Henry S. Miller Commercial, and Chris Teesdale, executive vice president of Colliers International, have spearheaded the capital campaign, proofreading and editing.

Grunnah says the project took considerably longer than he expected at the onset, but it just wasn't the capital raise that stalled delivery. Photography copyrights and other legal issues stood in the way. The Haynes & Boone law firm "donated" intellectual property attorney Jeffrey M. Becker, Grunnah says. The book's author is Elizabeth D. Perkins of Dallas, who had research help from staffs at the Dallas Public Library and Dallas Historical Society.

The committee became Tuesday lunch regulars at Sevy's in North Dallas, where they spent six years huddling over the project. "These people are a reflection of the City of Dallas and Dallas is a reflection of these people," Grunnah tells GlobeSt.com.

Brokers of every generation know the names, but not necessarily their histories. "They weren't always successful. They had their ups and downs," Hurmis says, "and they recovered. We've heard about them, know they shaped Dallas, but the Book gave us the opportunity to find out more about their personalities."

"We wanted the reader to understand the personality behind the name," adds Teesdale. "There is not another Hall of Fame or Book in any other major market in the US about their greatest developers and commercial real estate."

The Book shows triumphs, faux pas and tribulations for those professionals who built Dallas and those who are in the game now and years to come. "It's a graphic detail of their accomplishments. Dallas is such a forgiving city in that it allows so much opportunity," Grunnah says, citing the outcome of one classic tale in which a warehouse was built on the wrong tract of land. "The cooperation between developers and the brokerage community is largely responsible for the market. Because of their bold courage, sheer perseverance, wisdom and out-and-out guts, the Dallas/Fort Worth region is now the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the US."

The Book's historical overview includes a "family tree" mapping CRE's start in 1874 when Bolanz & Miller was formed right up to 2008's acquisition of locally based Staubach Co. by Jones Lang LaSalle. Also showcased are some of the region's major projects--past, present and future.