Bryan Stone, son of Spokane developer John Stone, will take over as CEO of John Stone Development LLC at the beginning of 2001, replacing his father.


The leadership change comes as the Stones, through separate companies, have $40 million in projects starting or in the planning stages in Seattle.


Bryan Stone says, I want to continue what we have been focusing on over the last two years: building mixed-use buildings. In addition to Seattle, cities in which the Stones are pursuing projects include Spokane, Coeur dAlene, Boise, Bellevue, and Portland.


The younger Stone has worked for the company for nine years and currently is its chief financial officer. He says his father plans to remain with the company and focus on Riverstone, a 72-acre development in Coeur dAlene thats expected to include a mix of retail, commercial, and residential uses.


Among other projects, John Stone Development has developed Park Place Retirement Community, Cornerstone Apartments, and Persimmon Woods apartments, all in the Spokane area, and Forest Place Retirement Community, in Coeur dAlene. It also has developed several multimillion-dollar apartment buildings in Seattle and retirement communities there and in Oceanside, Calif.


Another company in which John and Bryan Stone are involved, Metro On 1st LLC, broke ground last week on a $20 million, six-story structure in Seattle. That structure, which tentatively is being called The Metropolitan, will include 103 apartment units on the second through sixth floors and 6,500 square feet of retail space at street level, Stone says. It also will include three levels of underground parking.


That project is expected to be completed next December.


A third company, SRM Development LLC, which the Stones started with Dee McGonigle and Jim Rivard, both employees of John Stone Development, plans to start two projects late next year in the Seattle area.


Work on the first of those projects, an $11 million, six-story structure in West Seattle, is expected to start next October. As currently designed, that project will include retail space on the ground floor and 76 apartment units on the upper five floors, Stone says. It also will include underground parking.


A year from now, SRM Development plans to break ground on a $9 million, four-story project in the Lower Queen Anne area of Seattle. Stone says that project has such a long lead time because it takes that long to get through the permitting process in Seattle. As with the other Seattle projects, it would have retail space at the ground level, apartments53 unitson its upper floors, and underground parking, he says.