The Grand Rapids Downtown Market is a fantasyland of eats: the 132,000-square-foot three-level building offers bread from a wood-fired oven, charcuterie sourced from nearby farms, and other locavore delights. It is also a dream come true from the perspective of urban planning and local business, since its success indicates the community can achieve such goals as supporting local farmers and revitalizing a neglected industrial area at one stroke. During its first year, the market generated 215 new jobs and $5 million in retail sales and spurred conversion of two neighboring warehouses into mixed-use projects with 170 housing units.

Montclair, New Jersey-based architect Hugh Boyd has made a specialty of farmers' markets and indoor market halls. Of his 50 similar projects over 30 years, the $32 million Grand Rapids Downtown Market is the largest and most ambitious. “The diversity of the program is unique, and it was a challenge to get the entire program to work,” he says of the undertaking. Keeping budget in mind, Boyd conceived a warehouse of steel-and-metal decking, with wood accents whose warmth and craftsmanship underscore the artisanal nature of the businesses within.