Written by 
Renton’s Pavilion Event Center sits in our downtown Piazza Park, and has brought hundreds of visitors at a time to Renton’s downtown. In peak years, it’s been responsible for 50,000 visits or more, often travelers in Renton for the first time.
Renton’s Pavilion Event Center brought tens of thousands of visitors per year to downtown Renton during its two decades of operation. Renton brought this facility to life in 2002, when Council purchased this building as part of a Mazda Dealership, and we rehabbed it to host community events.
Renton Comic Con at the Pavilion, April 2017
Because we got a good deal on the building and we kept the upgrades reasonably modest, the building became an affordable community asset that has hosted countless events of all types. Many of these events have brought vendors and customers from other cities, supporting our hotels and restaurants and introducing downtown Renton to new visitors.
Pavilion wedding (Photo Courtesy Rain City Catering)
Nine years ago the city’s operator-partner running the Renton Pavilion Event Center began having to say “No” to anyone hoping to schedule an event for the following calendar year. Rain City Catering, the Pavilion operator (and King County’s minority-owned small award-winning business of the year), could have had the popular event hall constantly booked with conventions, large banquets and receptions. But starting in 2017, the City would not allow them to accept reservations beyond the current calendar year (i.e events had to be held by December 31st of the current year or they were not allowed.) Weddings and events of 450 people take longer than that to plan
With a seating capacity of 450, the Pavilion provided a large, affordable event location for entertainment, civic, and corporate events. Starting nine years ago, such events could not be scheduled for the following calendar year. (Photo Courtesy Rain City Catering)
The original Pavilion Lease with Rain City Catering ended in December 2017, so anyone who called wanting to book a wedding in 2018 had to be told “no”.
The Rain City Catering lease renewals were contrived such that Rain City could only lease for “one year periods”, and only take reservations for that calendar year. In addition, the City reserved the right to evict them with six months notice and no compensation. Rain City did an admirable job maintaining activity given these harsh lease terms.
Council tried fixing the log-jam six years ago, by initiating an RFP process that would extend a new long-term lease to the operator in exchange for the operator paying for upgrades to the building, and adding some anchor tenants that would ensure daily activity at the building. We also insisted that they maintain active and vital event space. Unfortunately, RFP activities were slowed by the pandemic.
After I retired from Council four years ago, the Mayor and Council selected an RFP response from a new bidder, Dave Brethauer, who asked for a 25 year lease, starting at one dollar per year for the first five years. The lease would then go up to about $150,000 per year, (a little more than we had been receiving from Rain City Catering ) with small inflation adjustments during the 20 years after that. Rain City Catering made their own attractive bid, and with a term lease they would have booked more events and paid more annually to the city. Rain City Catering would have paid for all improvements, and added anchor tenants. I covered the RFP process in detail in this blog post here.
An excerpt of Dave Brethauer’s RFP response
Dave Brethauer’s winning RFP response asked for additional substantial considerations from the city beyond five years of free rent: first-right of refusal if the Pavilion ever gets sold, and first right of refusal on any potential sale of any other nearby city property, including the Transit Center (which will be vacated by 2028) and the former Big Five site which is currently getting millions of dollars in taxpayer-funded upgrades. In exchange for the bargain lease and all the guaranteed purchase opportunities, the RFP response implied that Mr. Brethauer would redevelop the Pavilion into an active “Renton Market” at his expense, and it would continue to include significant event space.
RFP Excerpt: The Developer brings their money and development expertise and Renton will agree on long-term lease with time to get return on their investment. Full RFP is here.
The Renton Reporter, Renton’s official newspaper, also made it absolutely clear that upgrades would be the responsibility of winning RFP respondent:
“The proposal would leave the renovations, operations and management to the leaseholder. At committee, Mayor Denis Law said that throughout the different proposals the city has received for the 14,770-square-foot structure, there has always been talk of a year-round, vibrant market.
Law told the council that the city is not currently proposing money toward the project, nor would the city operate it.
“We’re not getting into the business to run a market,” Law said.”
(Renton Reporter, May 3, 2019)
Now, six years later, I can find no Pavilion lease with Mr. Brethauer anywhere on the City’s website. But the City of Renton is currently engaged in using taxpayer funds to make $12.8 million in upgrades to the Pavilion and nearby Piazza Park, with Mr. Brethauer’s involvement.
THE PROBLEM:
With $12.8 million in fresh public investments on this already-valuable property, taxpayers are owed a fair-market return on the (virtually brand-new) building. A $15-18 million-dollar property leased to a private party should generate $1-2 Million dollars per year, far-exceeding the $1- $150,000 per year offered in the 2019 RFP response (when the bidder was supposed to fund the improvements).
Washington State’s Constitution has clear, indisputable language about gifting public money to private businesses or parties.
The City’s update from June 19, 2025 says that the City of Renton is building out the Pavilion consistent with “the RFP process in 2019” (this is NOT consistent with the 2019 RFP process). Then it says a lease will be finalized in August 2025 (which did not happen) and that the tenant (Mr. Brethauer) will be bringing in and managing the businesses.
City update from June 2025
We’re six years past the RFP date with no lease, and the selected RFP bidder does not appear to be paying for any of the millions of dollars of work being done. Clearly the RFP process of 2019 should be considered null and void.
Furthermore, the City has done so much taxpayer work on the building that city leaders are going to have to figure out how to get $100,000 per month out of 12 farmer’s market stalls, two boothes, and a couple of small start-up anchor tenant to cover a fair rent payment for the city property.
If the property is leased to the winning RFP bidder for what what they wanted in their RFP response, it will be a crime. Under our State Constitution, our city is not allowed to subsidize private businesses even if we think they’ll improve our downtown. Giving the market away on a 25-year lease starting out at $1 per year would be unthinkable. It’s forbidden.
Renton keeps adding value to the deal. (from recent Council Meeting)
The future of our Piazza Park has regrettably been enmeshed in the “Renton Market Package” even though the Market was supposed to be paid for by a private developer under the RFP process. We don’t know how much the Pavilion developer is influencing the controversial redesign of the Piazza.
“Public-Private Partnerships” are full of legal and political risks in our state, even when proper and transparent RFP and bidding processes are followed. And they have not been followed in this case
The city is on a political tightrope that is even more precarious because of campaign donations. A quick review shows Dave Brethauer making substantial campaign donations to the Mayor; while anyone is allowed to make such donations, the Mayor must work hard to ensure any deal is not only fair, but also appears fair to the public. Full transparency and impartiality are very important when leasing valuable public assets.
And City officials are now rushed. They’ve invited the world to see our city center in June, four months from now. But without a legal lease for the Pavilion, which is a prerequisite for subleases for the interior booths, it’s hard to imagine the pavilion will be occupied with permanent tenants by the time of the World Cup matches. And if they rush these leases, they curtail the public’s ability to ensure we’re getting a fair deal for the taxpayer funds invested. (Each lease and sublease is required to go to Council, then into committee, then back to council, and then get a first and second reading, then go to the Mayor and clerk for signing; it takes weeks.)
One would have to be a superhero to get this done, legally, without unfairly gifting public funds, in time for June occupancy.
Renton Comic Con at our Piazza before it was demolished; the pictured foliage and landscape are currently gone.
Architects rendering of the new “Renton Market.” The $12.8 million dollars does not seem to change the building a lot other than permanently preventing large events. The roll-up glass garage doors are existing, and already open on nice days. We could already hold commercial events in the space. The adjacent Piazza Park is losing 50 of its 60 significant trees and both of its water features, which gives it a “parking lot” look.
Dave Brethauer’s Pinterest account hints at his involvement in the City’s design.
In June the public was told that operator agreements and leases would be forthcoming; where are they?
In June we were told the project would be completed this month or next
1.5 million dollars of the funding is coming from a federal grant. This is the description Renton provided. (Note that the city evicted the minority-owned business that was leasing and managing the Pavilion and at least one woman-owned business that was holding events in the Pavilion.) The grant comes with 18 pages of restrictions, including statements like “Additionally, no interest in this Award may be conferred upon a third party. ” The details can be found here.
A view of the Piazza today, with four months to go before the World Cup. The Pavilion is in the back, partially boarded up. I don’t have a photo of the inside. Read more about the Piazza here.
Is this where they’re hiding the grift? This seems really, really suspicious, frankly.
Thank you Randy, for this well-presented look at what has had me incredulous for years. Even knowing most of these details, I still learned a few things, connected a few dots. Your article clearly lays out the deep boondoggle this project has become. Now it is clear that this project is poorly thought out and careless with taxpayers’ dollars. It’s a vanity project that has tossed Renton’s history and heritage in the trash. So the mayor can have something “fresh”.
How the City will accomplish finishing the “Market” in 5 months with 2 anchor tenants, 14 kiosk vendors, and getting all that goes along with it through City Council approval, and through permitting will be interesting to watch. I hear complaints all the time about how long it takes to get City permits for anything. If it’s the City needing the permits, it will no doubt go as quickly as needed.
The artists rendition of the Pavillion doesn’t look at all like what they say it will have: 2 anchor tenants, and 12 10×10 kiosks along with 2 more permanent kiosks. The artwork shows an open, mostly empty building. Most of the mature trees and plants have been removed from the Piazza, so it won’t look like much for the big FIFA crowd.
Thinking back to the artist’s rendition for The Landing and how accurate it’s turned out to be, this picture being used is misleading according to the approved plans.
The former leaseholders, Rain City Catering, have told me that in 2019, the last “normal” year for the Event Center, it brought more than 40,000 out-of-towners into downtown Renton for events, meetings, receptions and more. Their phone continues to ring with requests for event reservations. They had requested for years to make improvements, like outside seating, and were told no by the City. Now, those ideas have “coincidentally” become the City’s plan—aren’t they smart?
Admittedly I wasn’t a fan of replacing the event center with a year-round market in the first place. My perception was the event center was thriving, providing much needed event space and bringing new people into downtown Renton. Our Farmer’s Market is well attended & a community social event every Tuesday in the summer. So when I started hearing the mayor and city staff talk about how bad the event center was doing, it didn’t make sense.
Until I learned about the new Market being planned. And a downtown developer and long-time friend of the mayor, was to be the operator. Instead of the minority owned, long time, well liked and successful Rain City Catering.
In my first term on Council, we were very focused on what to do with the newly completed empty Pavilion building. The city consultants proposed several plans for the building, including a year-round market, which we were advised against. An event center was chosen, with the Spirit of Washington Catering (yes, the dinner train!) getting the lease. After the train was forced to leave Renton, Rain City Catering took over the business. They are such excellent Community partners along with working so hard to make Renton proud of their event center. I’m very proud of Kenny and Jeremy!
Everything written about here I’ve been following since the beginning and seeing it all put together makes it even more appalling as it unfolds. It IS a crime as clearly shown.
It’s all so sad. Very few in the Community wanted this. The Renton Chamber tirelessly spoke at Council meetings against the plans. So many people comment about how missed the Pavilion Event Center is, and our lovely green Piazza. (Yes, I know the transit center brought problems, and it still will). The mayor and his administration will point to the Civic Core Plan that was done under Mayor Law. But none of this HAD to be done, it was all a suggestion, which has gone terribly wrong under this administration. Now it looks like there are many questions that need to be answered.
Marcie Palmer
Council Member 2004-2015
I agree! The pavilion was the idea and dream of then Mayor Jesse Tanner. How are the renters of the kiosks going to pay their monthly rent, or is it free? $12.8M is a lot of money to see a project Bomb! A Big Mistake of millions of dollars!
Is this why the council keeps going into executive sessions?
I don’t know, but it’s possible. When the Council goes into executive session, they announce a high-level reason that aligns with one of the approved categories for executive sessions under the open public meetings act. The approved categories include two that could apply to the Pavilion: setting lease rates, and discussing potential litigation.
I haven’t look back at the record, but I don’t remember any recent executive sessions announced with the purpose of setting lease rates. (There might have been, but I don’t remember.). There have been some recent executive sessions announced for potential litigation. That could have been potential litigation associated with this project (I don’t know of any specifically), or one of a few other areas the city is facing litigation right now.
I hope this project does not end up in litigation, and that somehow everyone including taxpayers can find a way to get their money’s worth and make the whole community feel good about this project. I think this could require rebidding the lease based on the value of the newly renovated space (releasing a new RFP and voiding the 2019 one), or the city managing the building for the rest of time (which would likely be a long-term drain on taxpayers). I’m not a lawyer, and perhaps there are other ways to make this work that I’m not aware of. But discussions about the legal issues involved in these various directions could probably be done in executive session. The City Attorney would typically make that call.
The fact that the lease keeps getting delayed is a public “tell” that they are having difficulty arriving at lease terms. The City hired a consultant two years ago for $49,000 to create the lease, and the work was supposed to be complete one year ago. Then we were told a lease would be signed last August, and it’s now February. It seems obvious there are differences. We always like to see these differences managed through negotiation, but with the high dollars and confusing process it could easily lead to litigation.
Another example of fixing what is not broken. Kenny is exactly what is needed in this city and to be pushed out is shameful.
It’s the Renton East Wing Ballroom project.
The Piazza as it looks today (I’ll add this photo to my main story):
Well, hopefully our city government will add some money to the legal budget and retain another law firm for the inevitable law suits no matter how this plays out.
This administration is an abomination and it just keeps getting worse.
While it has is problems… it could have been much much worse. The last elections it was a choice between [redacted]. And even then, at least we had a choice. Many cities don’t even get that. Just incumbents running unopposed.
You were an advocate of this administration during the last campaign season and election ??????
Actually in the last campaign season I only endorsed Mary Clymer who was running against an incumbent. Here is what I wrote about Ms. Clymer.
A reader just sent me this view of the outside of the Pavilion today. The reader noted that it is a sunny, dry 55 degree Thursday and no workers appeared to be present at the Pavilion site. There are 117 days between now and the June 2nd opening of the Farmers Market, and only 82 work days — lots to do still.
They knock off around 4. Hard to be an active construction site with commuters and the evening rush 10 feet away. Teust me, they work hard all day.
#factsaregoodtoknow
Yes, they were there this morning, I saw them – tearing out more trees and breaking up concrete.
Thanks Robert and SadtoLoseMoreTrees for the corrections/updates.
Who gets the sub-tenant money?! Does the guy who is renting the building from the city for one dollar somehow get to keep the sub-tenant money? Why would he get to keep it? If he gets to keep it, it’s free money. How do I sign up for one of these deals?
Thanks “Who Gets The Money” for the important question
The RFP was structured such that the winning bidder would get the sublease money, in exchange for the rent they paid to the city and the money they put into renovations and maintenance. Obviously this makes no sense anymore if they’re paying $1 in rent, and they have not incurred renovation costs, and the maintenance is for a brand-new building instead of an old one.
The City may now try to assert that they have privately re-negotiated the terms, and have some sort of new deal, but there is no way to know if it is a competitive deal for taxpayers without going out to bid again. If the terms are substantially different than what the RFP called for, then Rain City Catering (the other bidder who actually met the RFP terms) should be given a chance to make a bid under the new terms where the City pays for the renovation. I’m sure Rain City Catering would offer more than $1 per year.
And just like you suggested, you yourself should be allowed to make a bid if you can offer the city good terms and a good management team. There are probably others like you who would like to manage a new building, collect rents from sub-leases, and give part of the money back to the city. We don’t know who else is interested in doing this, because the RFP said that the winning bidder had to pay for expensive renovations using their own money. That stopped most people from bidding.
“SadToLoseMoreTrees” wrote that they saw the Piazza construction crew tearing out more trees yesterday. I’ve included the controversial tree removal plan below. All of the dots are significant trees in the Piazza (with greater than 6″ diameter trunk measured four feet above the ground). Red dots are being removed. Purple and green are staying. Blue will have “minor” impacts. Click on the photo to get a close-up and see the color-code. Most or all of the trees shown are about 25 years old, and were originally chosen and planted to be permanent additions to our cityscape by landscape architects.
And this is why, if you’re a property owner, you need to chop down all your trees year by year. So you can do what you want on your own land. Stringent tree laws mean fewer trees.
This is a case of “do as I say not as I do.” The City rules don’t allow a private property owner to cut down more than 70% of the substantial trees on a lot, even when redeveloping it with permits.
It you look just at the Piazza Park property above, the City is removing 23 out of its 30 substantial trees. This is a removal of 77%, more than they would let a private developer remove from a new housing site. The city has added the street trees into the count to make it seem like they are keeping more trees, but a private developer would not get credit for street trees.
I don’t like the precedent set by removing 77% of the trees from a park like this. And the city is setting a bad example by doing it.
For reference, here is the tree-clearing worksheet that private property owners are required to adhere to (that includes the 30% figure)
This is exactly why it’s best to start chopping as soon as you get the property. Spread it out year by year, and just get a sketchy arborist to record that he said “Yep… it’s dangerous”
Monday evening update (Feb. 9,2026)
At this evenings’ Committee of the Whole (COW), Renton Council Members had 1 item on the Agenda: “RENTON MARKET/PAVILLION & PIAZZA UPDATE”. Here is a link to the Agenda Bill with presentation slides: file:///C:/Users/pkplm/Downloads/Meetings155Packet_20260205133743228.pdf.
Below is a link to the meeting. The last half is the most interesting (especially if you’ve reviewed the presentation above) when Council Members asked questions of Staff. All I can say is, our beautiful Piazza has been destroyed and our Event Center will be a new home for — “hopefully” — a fish monger, butcher, cheese monger(?), New York-style deli, anchor restaurant… BUT “the Operator”, never named, doesn’t yet have anything leased as far as Staff knows. 5 months until the fabulous FIFA arrives in Renton and as the photos in the presentation show, there is a looooonnnnnggg way to go to. Yet the ever optimistic Staff say emphatically YES! All construction will be complete and leases completed when FIFA arrives, in answer to Council President Perez. OooooKay.
Yes, I also noticed they never mention the chosen ‘operator’ of the Piazza, and they don’t say who the ‘consultant’ is who said the operator can have a $5/ sq ft lease for the first few years with no rate adjustments. Just like the staff never said who the ‘consultant’ is for Legacy Square. (Why so many consultants when city staff is so well paid anyway?) Perhaps the name of the ‘consultant’ for all these destructive projects is a bit too familiar to publish without backlash?
Randy, weren’t you on council when all this was decided?
No the choice of which RFP response to select was made in 2022, and I had retired in December of 2021. Many follow-on choices were then made since that time that have allowed the proposal to drift far away from the original intent of the RFP, particularly relative to financing. The RFP called for the winning bidder to pay for all improvements, and instead the city is now paying millions for improvements. The RFP also called for a large indoor event space, and the RFP responses were going to accommodate this with movable vender carts. The event space requirement in the RFP is getting ignored at this point, other than a kitchen classroom (which does not meet the intent).