The Pavilion at the Piazza has a new leaseholder and caterer, Rain City Catering of Renton.

And eventually it will have a new name, probably with Renton in it, to replace its current one, the Spirit of Washington Event Center.

Rain City Catering now has a lease once held by Eric Temple, owner of the Spirit of Washington Dinner Train which operated out of Renton for 15 years before it shut down in 2007.

Spirit of Washington Inc. continued to book and cater events at the city-owned event center until late last year, although starting in October, Rain City Catering was preparing the food.

The company notified the city in December that it could no longer honor its lease at the event center, said Peter Renner, the facilities director for the City of Renton.

The City Council approved the new one-year lease Monday night. The city did not seek other prospective caterers because the replacement process “would have ground to a halt.” It wanted to keep a transition seamless, Renner said.

“It was a matter of not losing business and hurting the reputation of the Pavilion,” Renner said.

The events at the Pavilion have also drawn thousands of visitors to downtown Renton, part of the city’s program of economic development.

However, the city is considering issuing a “request for proposals” mid-year to determine whether others are interested in catering events at the Pavilion, he said. The city would then “evaluate the response,” he said.

The deposits for about a dozen booked events were returned to patrons until a new lease was signed.

Now, Kenny Rogers, co-owner of Rain City Catering, said he has about 25 parties prebooked for 2011, including nearly all of those who had deposits returned. Before Rogers and co-owner Jeremy Bryant are about 50 more proposals for events, Rogers said.

Rain City Catering has been in business since 1999. Since July of that year, it has provided food in the locker rooms for the Seattle Mariners and their opponents. It has also catered for other professional teams, including the Seahawks, and athletic teams at the University of Washington.

Rain City just did an event at the Federal Reserve Bank in Renton.

Rogers describes the Rain City menu as “broad,” ranging from ethnic foods, to salmon, to meat, to chicken and pastas.

The caterers rent the commercial kitchen at the former railroad depot nearby once used by the dinner train caterers. Marketers with the Spirit of Washington Event Center are also now working with Rain City Catering to book more events, which have ranged from banquets to weddings.

The City of Renton also has a number of dates it can use the Pavilion, too.

The rental business at the event center has slowly dropped off, along with the revenue to the city, since 2007. In 2007 there were 127 events, which generated about $147,500 in revenue for the City of Renton. In 2010 there were 52 events, with revenue of about $76,000, according to Renner.

Renner’s “very conservative” estimate for revenue to the city this year is about $36,000. The city doesn’t subsidize the event center, which is part of its portfolio of properties available for rent. The portfolio includes the old City Hall on Mill Avenue and the fourth floor of City Hall.

The lease agreement with Rain City Catering is similar to the initial one with Temple. The new caterers won’t pay rent for the first months, then it’s $1,000 a month for the next six months. The city also will pay the power bill, which could amount to about $1,000 a month, depending on the activities. It also will maintain the complex parts of the heating and air conditioning systems.

The idea is to let the catering company grow its business and revenue in those first few months, Renner said. Eventually, Temple was paying $3,000 a month for the event center.

Rain City Catering

PHONE: 206-395-5126

FAX: 425-277-8873

E-MAIL: info@raincitycatering.com