John Stone may have handed over the reins recently of Spokane-based SRM Development LLC, a real estate development company he cofounded in 2000, but before he retires, he says, he wants to see one more grand vision through: Riverstone.

In recent years, Riverstone, the 160-acre mixed-use development that lies along the Spokane River northwest of downtown Coeur d'Alene, has struggled with stalled real estate sales, reticent retailers, balking bankers, and a virtual two-year halt to construction.

Now, though, there are plenty of signs of new life at Riverstone, with housing, commercial, and infrastructure projects valued at $22.7 million planned or under way this year, Stone says.

"That's real therapy," he says.

Stone, who is 67 years old, has formed Riverstone Holdings LLC to manage day-to-day development activities at Riverstone and has transferred his interests in SRM to former partners and cofounders Dee McGonigle, Jim Rivard, and Bryan Stone, his son.

"Riverstone is really the only project I'm working on," Stone says. "That's plenty for the next couple of years."

Stone says eight major construction projects likely will take shape this year in Riverstone. The overall development consists of the Village at Riverstone, which is its retail heart; Riverstone Office Park, southeast of the village; Riverstone Park which surrounds a manmade pond; and Riverstone Plaza, on the northwest section of the development.

A restaurant, to be called the Ugly Fish, will be the next new business that will open at Riverstone, he says.

Spokane-area restaurateur Bin Sun has bought the freestanding, 4,800-square-foot building at 1927 W. Riverstone Drive, near the west edge of the Village at Riverstone, and says he plans to open the Ugly Fish, an Asian-cuisine restaurant, there as early as May, after interior work is completed.

Kilgore Construction Inc., of Colbert, is the contractor on the restaurant project, and Spokane-based Nystrom Olson Collins Inc. designed it.

Sun says he's investing about $1.3 million in the restaurant, including the real estate costs. He says he's been eyeing the Coeur d'Alene area, especially the Riverstone development, for a few years.

"I really think the location has a great future," he says of the Riverstone site. "It's a nice building in a nice area."

The Ugly Fish will have about 20 employees, he says.

Sun also owns Ginger Asian Bistro, in Spokane, and Ding How Asian Gourmet Restaurant Inc., in Liberty Lake.

Across Riverstone Drive, in the Riverstone Park section of the development, Spokane Valley-based medical practice Advanced Dermatology & Skin Surgery PLLC started work last week on a $1.5 million, 8,000-square-foot medical office building.

Yost, Mooney & Pugh Contractors Inc., of Spokane, is the contractor on that project, and Spokane-based NAC|Architecture designed it.

Advanced Dermatology's facility at Riverstone will include an ambulatory surgical center where skin-cancer surgeries and some cosmetic operations will be performed, says Wendy Stoehr, clinic director at the practice. The Riverstone operation will have a staff of 15 to 20 people. Five physicians in the medical practice will rotate between the Spokane Valley and Coeur d'Alene offices, each working a day or two a week in Coeur d'Alene, Stoehr says.

Stone says the company he formed, Riverstone Holdings, is planning to develop a $1.5 million, 6,000-square-foot office building on a lot adjacent to the Advanced Dermatology building, just southeast of the 6-acre centerpiece pond and fountain in the Riverstone Park section of the development.

He says a prospective tenant, whom he declines to identify, is interested in the planned building.

Stone says he also expects construction to start in the development this spring or summer on a $1.5 million, 10,000-square-foot FBI office building, which would be developed and owned by Baker Construction & Development Inc., of Spokane. That building is to be constructed on the north side of Riverstone Drive, in the section of the development west of the Village at Riverstone, Stone says.

Ross Buffington, an Auburn, Wash.-based spokesman for the U.S. General Services Administration, says GSA is close to finalizing a lease agreement for new FBI offices in Coeur d'Alene, but he declines to confirm its location. GSA is a federal agency that manages and supports certain functions of other U.S. government agencies, including real estate.

Baker Construction CEO Barry Baker says of the project, "We think we're in line for it, but we're still waiting on the final OK." Wolfe Architectural Group PS, of Spokane, is designing the project, Baker says.

Separately, Pinkerton Retirement Specialists LLC is planning to start work this year on a 10,000-square-foot, $4 million office building on John Loop, an interior road just northwest of the pond in Riverstone Park, Stone says.

Pinkerton, a Coeur d'Alene financial-planning firm, declines to comment on the project.

Work is under way on a $1.9 million project that will extend John Loop, which Stone says is named for his grandson, to serve 11 lots in the westernmost 21 acres of the development.

The road extension, which will connect with the west end of Riverstone Drive near its intersection with Seltice Way, is needed to provide access to the planned $7 million, 50-unit Riverstone West Family Apartments project, Stone says. That project will be developed by Whitewater Creek Inc., of Hayden, and construction likely will begin this summer, he says.

The Lake City Development Corp., a Coeur d'Alene-based urban redevelopment agency, says Riverstone West Family Apartments will provide affordable housing for individuals and families that make less than 50 percent of the area median income. Monthly rents for the one- to three-bedroom units will range from $360 to $640, LCDC says.

The project will be funded in part through federal tax credits. It also will be eligible for tax-increment financing for a portion of the infrastructure that Whitewater Creek and Riverstone West LLC construct to serve the housing project, LCDC says.

In another project planned on John Loop, Citilink, a multiagency public transportation system, is seeking funding to construct a transportation hub, which likely would cost around $4 million, Stone says.

Stone says he has always believed in Riverstone, despite staggering economic challenges of the last few years.

"We took a couple of hits," he says. "First was the demise of the national housing market and the evaporation of lending."

Of the 133 luxury condominiums there, Riverstone sold 52 of them and turned the rest over to its financiers in lieu of foreclosure. Most of the bank-owned condos have been auctioned off or sold at bargain prices, and less than 10 units remain unsold, Stone says.

Banners in the village still say condos, which originally listed for $329,000 to $899,000, are on sale at up to 65 percent off.

"You can't replace them at that price," Stone says.

The second major blow to Riverstone, he says, was the loss of Barnes & Noble Inc., a highly anticipated anchor tenant that decided not to come to Riverstone after the developer customized a 28,000-square-foot structure for it at a cost of $9 million.

"They bailed out at the last moment," Stone asserts.

Riverstone's development affiliates sued the New York-based bookseller in federal court, alleging breach of contract. A judge here dismissed the case, but Riverstone appealed it to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Stone says he's hoping the appeals court will hear the case this summer.

Meantime, only about 40 percent of the 210,000 square feet of shop space is occupied in the Village at Riverstone Regardless of those challenges, Stone says he sees brighter days for Riverstone.

Other developers, for instance, are showing interest in remaining vacant lots there, he says.

"They have been buying land at a 45 percent discount," he says. "That's about the going rate now."

So far, SRM, its Riverstone affiliates, and other developers have invested $200 million in the overall development, which has accounted for about 900 permanent jobs there, Stone says.

"It's amazing how close we've been able to adhere to the original vision," he says. "It's been developed much as we perceived it back in 1998. There are variations, but it's very similar."

In addition to currently planned projects, Stone says he estimates the cost to complete the development will add up to another $40 million to $50 million, depending on the types of projects that move forward.

In all, he expects Riverstone will provide more than 1,200 permanent jobs.

Despite the lingering effects of the recession, Stone says he thinks the overall Riverstone project will be substantially complete in about three years.

"Riverstone is going to fill up, just from normal growth," Stone says.