Renton Funds a Field Recruiter While Hunting 18-Acre Sites

Renton classified a business recruitment and retention manager at $135,060 to $179,724 a year after staff told council large retailers want in. The hitch they named on Feb. 23, 2026, is land: a 13-acre site, an 18-acre site, and a second 18-acre pad.

Economic Development Director Amanda Free asked for a motivated, outgoing recruiter who can sell Renton as “the place to be” in King County offices. Community and Economic Development Administrator Gina Estep said she does not want that hire parked at a desk.

Renton Budgeted a Recruiter to Work Outside City Hall

Staff walked council through the plan at a Feb. 23 Committee of the Whole meeting in the chambers at 1055 South Grady Way. Estep, who joined the city as economic development director in January 2023 and became administrator in May 2024, called recruitment and retention “a holistic effort from the ground up.”

“That includes cultivating your existing economy while growing a future economy, which is a big task,” Estep said. She added that the city often gets “one chance, or maybe two chances,” with a major prospect, so planners, engineers, and the economic development team have to line up before anyone asks for the meeting.

Free said the new manager has to be “the right character fit” and “seen as a regional player because they will be in those offices with those businesses.” Estep wanted someone who also understands the money problems firms hit when they move or expand.

We do want this individual to be out in the region really knocking on the doors and uncovering every rock that we feel we believe is an opportunity for Renton.

Gina Estep, Community and Economic Development Administrator, Feb. 23, 2026 Committee of the Whole

The city’s class specification is broader than a traveling closer. The manager oversees recruitment and retention programs, writes short- and long-term plans, watches a division budget, and supervises specialists and a GIS analyst, reporting to the economic development director.

THE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT PAY BAND

The salary range of $135,060 to $179,724 sits just under the director band Free already occupies. Public listings through early October 2026 did not name a person in the new manager seat.

The briefing itself is on the city’s channel.

Staff Said the Shortage Is Land, Not Interest

Estep told the committee the city cannot name the retailers, only that large ones are looking. She said the biggest hurdle is finding properties big enough.

“Right now we need a good 13-acre site and a good 18-acre site,” Estep said. On the dais, staff went further: they need about two of those 18-acre sites. A council member asked whether the city actually has two 18-acre spots, and where they are. Staff said they are studying lots of about seven or eight acres and talking with owners about joining adjacent parcels.

THE ACREAGE STAFF SAID THEY NEED

• One 13-acre pad: Named as a live ask for large retailers already looking at Renton.
• Two 18-acre pads: Staff told council one 18-acre site is not enough.
• Seven- and eight-acre lots: The fallback is assembling smaller private parcels into a single site.
• A site-selection team: Planners would match those parcels to a prospect’s footprint before the closer walks in.

In a May 7, 2026 city video for Economic Development Week, Free said the city had created a site-selection team and strengthened retention programs. That is the back office the field manager is supposed to lean on. Without a named 13-acre or 18-acre close in public, the closer’s calendar still depends on owners who have not yet combined their lots.

WinCo opened on Aug. 3, 2026, at 800 Garden Ave. N. in the former Fry’s Electronics at The Landing, a reuse of an existing big box rather than a new 13-acre greenfield. It shows a large grocer can land in Renton. It does not fill the two 18-acre asks staff put on the record in February.

The HEART Block Opened on June 6

Estep pointed to the HEART Block as proof the city will spend on urban renewal. Legacy Square, Piazza Park, and the Renton Market sit between S. 2nd and S. 3rd streets near Logan Ave. S. The city treated that cluster as a confidence pitch for firms that want a downtown address, then said recruitment would run citywide, “every nook, cranny, and location.”

Legacy Square construction started in June 2025 on a former gravel lot. The city opened it on Saturday, June 6, 2026, from 1 to 8 p.m., with a futsal court, 30-foot screen, and stage, a playground for ages 2 to 5, a grassy lawn, and parklets with patio furniture donated by IKEA. The Sounders FC RAVE Foundation put in the mini pitch. Summer programming ran watch parties, concerts, and movies through September.

Piazza Park got a $2.8 million overhaul as the outdoor lobby for the market. The market building has 11,783 square feet indoors and 1,766 square feet outside, 13,549 square feet in all. Logan Market LLC holds a 10-year lease that started April 1, 2026, and runs to March 30, 2036, with two five-year extensions. City papers set exclusive possession and base rent for Oct. 1, 2026, after a no-base-rent build-out stretch. The June 6 party billed the hall as the soon-to-be Renton Market, with the tenant still finishing stalls.

THE 2026 RECRUITMENT CALENDAR

1. Late January 2026: Visit Renton website and app launch, presented to council as a tourism and foot-traffic tool.
2. February 23, 2026: Committee of the Whole hears the recruitment plan and the 13-acre and 18-acre site ask.
3. March 25, 2026: Mayor Armondo Pavone delivers the State of the City at the Hyatt Regency Lake Washington at Southport.
4. June 6, 2026: Grand opening of Legacy Square and Piazza Park; market keys already with the tenant.
5. August 3, 2026: WinCo opens at The Landing in the former Fry’s store.
6. October 1, 2026: Logan Market LLC exclusive possession and base rent begin under the city lease.

Downtown is no longer a rendering. The large-format pads staff wanted in February were never named in that briefing, and they still had no public address by the time the market lease hit exclusive possession.

Boeing, 3,600 Firms, and a 20,000-Job Target

Pavone, in his second term and his 13th year as an elected official after six years on the council, used the March 25 address to size the base the new closer would inherit. He said Renton is home to 3,600 businesses and 71,000 daily workers, a mix of Boeing and small firms. He said the city expects more than 20,000 new jobs in the coming years and had built out a dedicated economic development team to recruit businesses, fill vacant space, and work with Kent Valley Aerospace.

A city population figure of 108,800 (2024) sat on the Legacy Square press materials. The mayor’s priorities list puts Boeing’s local economic impact at about $725 million a year and names PACCAR, Wizards of the Coast, IKEA, Blue Origin, the Seahawks, OL Reign, the Sounders, and Valley Medical as anchors. The same list flags Alaska Airlines’ training operation at Longacres, a future Seattle Children’s campus, and WinCo.

RENTON’S EMPLOYMENT BASE

• Local firms: 3,600 businesses inside the city limits, per the March 25 address.
• In-commuters: More than 71,000 people come to Renton for work each day.
• Job target: More than 20,000 new jobs in the coming years, Pavone said.
• Boeing weight: About $725 million a year in local economic impact on the mayor’s priorities page.

Estep, in a State of the City video, called that mix of corporate employers and locally owned shops “the economic dream team” and named Alaska Airlines and Seattle Children’s among the firms the city is trying to land or grow. Retention of the 3,600 already here is half the job description. The other half is the unnamed large retailers who will not sign until someone can point to 13 acres or 18.

Visit Renton Launched With Passports and an Itinerary App

Staff split the public pitch. Economic-development content stays on the city site. Visit Renton, which grew out of the old Why Renton campaign, is the tourism face, built with Simpleview and partners that include the Renton Chamber of Commerce, Valley Medical, and Renton Technical College. A new logo arrived Nov. 7, 2025, with a mosaic R in two blues, mint, sunset gold, and maplewood ember. The site and app went live in the last days of January 2026.

Economic Development Manager Jessie Kotarski told council the refreshed brand “help[s] connect our community while highlighting what makes Renton unique” and presents “a place where businesses can grow and want to be.” A March 5 staff post walked visitors through the dragon-led Itinerary Builder and community calendar, plus a business directory, ready-made itineraries, and a mobile app on Apple and Google Play with digital passports and challenges meant to push foot traffic into shops.

WHAT VISIT RENTON LAUNCHED

• Itinerary Builder: A trip planner, also in the phone app, for dining, lodging, events, and outdoor stops.
• Community calendar: Neighborhood events, festivals, and partner submissions in one feed.
• Business directory: Listings grouped by category and area for visitors and locals.
• Digital passports: Challenges designed to move people from the screen into stores.

That toolkit sells the city that already exists. It does not assemble an 18-acre lot. Free’s closer is supposed to carry both stories into a prospect’s office: the HEART Block and the empty pad that is not on a map yet.

What Large Retailers Would Pay Under Renton’s Wage Law

Any national chain the closer lands with more than 500 employees worldwide walks into Renton Labor Standards, a voter-passed code in Title 5.28. Large employers had to pay at least $21.57 an hour from Jan. 1, 2026. Mid-size employers, at least 15 workers or more than $2 million of annual gross revenue in Renton, paid $20.57 from Jan. 1 through June 30, 2026, then $21.57 from July 1 through Dec. 31, 2026. Smaller shops stay on the state floor.

Estep said the hire should know the financial hurdles businesses face. That wage schedule is one of them, sitting next to site cost, traffic, and the city’s own permit path. CED takes those calls at 425-430-6591 and thrive@rentonwa.gov. Estep’s department also runs land-use, permits, and development engineering, which is the “ducks in a row” sequence she described before anyone asks for the meeting.

The classified job, the site-selection team, and the Visit Renton rebuild are the city’s wager that a closer can convert interest that staff already said is there. The Feb. 23 tape still has the open question a council member asked out loud: where are the two 18-acre spots. Until an owner joins those seven- and eight-acre lots, the recruiter Free described is knocking on doors with a map that has holes in it.