Hugh A. Boyd Architects
Grand Rapids, Michigan
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.
Located in a somewhat blighted neighborhood south of downtown, the building commands attention with a rooftop greenhouse. Illuminated at night, the volume is visible from US Highway 131, a major link between Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo, Michigan. In a similar vein, the street-level market hall allows hungry shoppers to glimpse producers like the bakers at Field & Fire Bakery turning out loaves of bread behind a glass wall. The ground floor's interior features a grand stair leading to the greenhouse (which doubles as event space), as well as a banquet room, and a terrace overlooking the city. This upper level also includes a kitchen incubator for new businesses plus a teaching kitchen that accommodates kids, with custom adjustable-height stations powered by hydraulics, while a smaller third floor provides office space for culinary start-ups. A traditional open-air farmers' market is housed in a long shed adjacent to the LEED Gold'certified building.
The Grand Rapids Downtown Market is set up as a community nonprofit that channels any net profits to its own Downtown Market Education Foundation. In just its second year of operation, the venture is doing well enough to finance the foundation. Among various income streams, event rentals have been a surprise hit, with sales reaching nearly $200,000 in 2014. Adding to the momentum, the city has built new sidewalks that allow pedestrians to access the market from downtown. According to Mimi Fritz, president and CEO of the Grand Rapids Downtown Market, “We are becoming a destination.”
Architect:
Hugh A. Boyd Architects
271 Grove Street, Montclair, NJ 07042
Tel: 973-783-2878
Size: 132,000 square feet
Project Cost: $32 million
Completion date: May 2013
