The gleaming three-story Euro-style Market Limone in Nampa opened to fanfare and foodie gratitude in late 2007, heralded by its developer as the shape of downtown to come. About a year and a half later, on April 28, it quietly closed its doors amid foreclosure proceedings.

Now the 11,000-square-foot building at 112 13th Ave. S. is set to go on the auction block Friday, and city leaders and neighboring businesses say they're hopeful an investor will scoop up the former appliance store that Laurel and Michael MacKinnon revamped with an estimated $1.5 million investment.

"It's such a tremendous building and an asset to downtown that it's hard to imagine it staying empty very long," said Beth Ineck, downtown economic development project manager for the city.

"Now at least we have a gorgeous building," said Darlene Johnson, whose Darlene's Printing has been doing business on that block for 15 years. When Johnson's business opened, the building at 112 already had been vacant for years, she said, and it was decidedly less attractive.

Some say Laurel MacKinnon's ambitious, cosmopolitan approach to the market/restaurant and four other properties she bought on 13th may have helped doom Limone when the economy tanked.

"A lot of people really loved it," said Dave Lancaster, owner of Nafziger's Men Store around the corner on 1st Street. "It brought people down here."

But others thought the plan "wasn't quite right for downtown Nampa," he said.

"Maybe it was a little too much European for Nampa," said Lancaster, vice president of the Downtown Nampa Association. "It was a great idea. A few adjustments, and it probably would have done well. The economy wouldn't let her do it."

MacKinnon could not be reached for comment. She has not spoken publicly since the market closed, but she and her husband issued a written statement thanking their supporters and blaming the economy.

Lee Ortivez, owner of Salon Che adjacent to Market Limone, is one of the people who loved the market the way it was and would like to see it rise again.

"It's way unique," Ortivez said. "All of my clients, when they were waiting or they wanted something else to do, I sent them over there."

'FOODIES PARADISE' AND OTHER DREAMS

Market Limone's brick and wood facade now sports a Notice of Trustee's Sale in the window and cobwebs on the windowsill. Through the glass is a still-life portrait of the former market, with tables and stools neatly arranged and kitchenware and latte flavors seemingly at the ready. A blackboard touts $5 cocktails and $3 wine by the glass. A sign at the stairs points to "groceries and goodies."

MacKinnon called the market a "foodies paradise" and said it was part of her wish to invest in and help revitalize her hometown's historic core.

Some of Limone's designer cookware and specialty food items now grace a window of Urban Shed, three doors down in another MacKinnon-owned building.

She and her husband bought four buildings between 1st and 2nd streets on 13th, plus a vacant lot across 1st. She dubbed the area the Belle District to honor the wife of early Nampa promoter W.H. Dewey. She likened it to Portland's Pearl District and Boise's Linen District.

MacKinnon had big plans for the vacant lot - an ice rink/park/office complex. But the project stalled after a massive excavation that riled neighboring businesses with its blowing dust and similarity to the infamous hole in Downtown Boise. So the city of Nampa stepped in, building a parking lot on the site this spring in return for a two-year lease.

Larry Richardson also had a dream for the block MacKinnon invested in. In 2007, he and chef Brian Inaba hoped to buy the string of buildings on 13th and create a destination entertainment zone to complement Inaba's Copper Canyon restaurant and Richardson's blues bar, he said. But the sale went to MacKinnon instead, and his Kat's House of Blues was squeezed out by the new owner's plans to expand her market into his leased space, he said.

Richardson, a Nampa Fire Department battalion chief, said he doesn't want to get back into the bar business, but he does hope a new business or group of businesses soon makes use of the massive, stylish building.

DON'T COUNT DOWNTOWN OUT

Merchants and city officials say losing Limone is a blow, but downtown is holding its own in this tight economy.

"The nature of small business is volatility, and unfortunately, stores often close as new ones come along," said Cliff Long, Nampa's economic development director.

Several restaurant spaces - Market Limone, La Parilla Juarez and the Little Kitchen - are vacant. The MacKinnon-owned Dewey Scales Building, across 13th from Limone, has been vacant for months and suffered structural problems, but now it is gutted and being revamped as gallery space, Ineck said.

"Downtown Nampa is alive and thriving," Johnson said.

Summer is prime time for Downtown Nampa, she said: A farmers market each Saturday and free outdoor concerts each Thursday evening draw crowds to downtown businesses, and popular new offerings such as the sprawling Flying M Coffee Garage bring people in throughout the week.

"I think for the most part it is OK, but it is a little slow," Ortivez said of business on 13th post-Limone.

The block still gets pretty good foot traffic, he said, and the planned gallery is bound to help.

But what he'd really like, he said, is for the market to come back or something equally interesting to take its place.

Kristin Rodine: 377-6447