The City of Renton is in the middle of a project to re-imagine the old Pavilion Building and the surrounding area into a community public square in the center of the downtown area.

The city purchased the Pavilion Building, a former automobile dealership, in 2004. Since that purchase, the city has reported explosive growth, particularly among communities of color who now comprise 58% of Renton’s population.

According to a report in the 2023-2025 Capital Budget Request, the city sees a “dire” need to refurbish the Pavilion Building to create a “new heartbeat in the center of downtown,” and to bring new opportunities and access to historically disadvantaged communities.

The plan is to transform the old Pavilion Building into the Logan Place Market, a flexible use space that can host small businesses, pop-ups and other community enterprises that could be used on a daily basis.

Plans for the Pavilion Building, first outlined in a Civic Core planning document, call for the Pavilion to be renovated into a more “vibrant” Logan Place Market with retail space, rotating vendors and business incubator space on the inside, complemented by a welcoming public square on the outside.

In some preliminary discussions by Renton leaders and stakeholders about the potential uses for the Logan Place Market, some envisioned permanent kitchen spaces for pop-ups and ghost kitchens as well as partnerships with Renton Technical College to allow hand-on learning experiences for certain trade programs.

The square outside the Logan Place Market will focus on community spaces to include seating, play areas, gathering spots, and hosting events.

Public access to restrooms will be addressed to help provide longer visitation access to the public square.

To fully design and construct this space, the city has a preliminary estimate of $5 million. However, the city’s request of the 2023 Legislature is $2 million — half allocated to pre-construction design and half allocated to building out key portions of the initial space with necessary fixtures for the public square to support the Logan Place Market.

The city’s 2023–2025 Capital Budget request to the Legislature is for funding to create the public square on the outside of the building.

Renton is working with U.S. Senator Patty Murray and U.S. Rep. Adam Smith to secure $1.5 million in congressionally designated funding that will help to finance the Logan Place Market space on the inside of the redeveloped Pavilion Building.