FALL CITY – Perhaps the most prevalent building in Fall City is undergoing a major change in an effort to remain the same.

The building that houses the Colonial Inn restaurant, the big, white, historic-style structure that dominates the intersection of Preston-Fall City Road and Redmond-Fall City Road, was sold earlier this year to a group of investors, Igmus, LLC. That group plans on refurbishing the interior of the restaurant, keeping its name and reopening the eatery by March 1 next year.

“We’re giving it a facelift,” said Scott Krahling, a Mercer Island-based accountant and Igmus partner.

Krahling said the building’s beauty and location is what drew his group to the business. The partners of Igmus have never owned or operated a restaurant, but will create a different business to run the Colonial Inn. Krahling said the Colonial will still be open for three meals a day, seven days a week.

Those who want to follow the food, however, just need to head down the street. The couple that owned the Colonial Inn restaurant for the past 16 years, Lyle and Kia Geels, have moved their food operation just a couple doors down the road to another Fall City feature they have a stake in: the Raging River Saloon. Lyle said he and Kia were aware they would likely lose their lease at the old location and had planned on moving. They brought with them all their kitchen equipment, their menu and nine out of the 14 employees from the old restaurant.

An interior wall with an arch way to another room inside the Raging River was torn down to make room for the restaurant, and wallpaper was put up and carpet laid to make it more homey. Lyle said it will be a family-style restaurant like the Colonial, and intimate booths from the old location are expected to be installed soon.

With the wall gone, the live bands the saloon brings in will have a better place to play, said Bo Cambern, who, along with his wife Nina, co-owns the Raging River with the Geels. At night, the tables for the restaurant can be removed to make room on the dance floor, which will be getting new wood flooring in the future. The larger space will get rid of the cramped feeling music fans endured in the past, Bo said. It will also give dancers more room on Wednesday nights when the Whisky Girls give dancing lessons, one of the most popular events of the week. The Raging River is even trying to get a monthly jazz night scheduled for some time during the week.

It will be new and improved, but the owners of the Raging River said no one will feel left out of the action.

“We want to keep it comfortable for the locals,” said Bo. “That’s really important to us.”

As a result of its transformation, the establishment has taken on a new name, the Raging River Cafe and Club. It is a fitting name for the new one-stop approach the Geels and Camberns are taking to bringing in people day and night to the Raging River.

“We are trying to do the best of both,” Lyle said.

* For more information about the Raging River Cafe and Club, visit www.theragingriver.com.

Editor Ben Cape can be reached at (425) 888-2311 or by e-mail at ben.cape@valleyrecord.com.