A massive food hall has opened in a converted industrial heritage building in downtown Toronto.

The Waterworks Food Hall comprises 55,000 square feet and includes more than 20 restaurants, bars, bakeries and other eateries. Woodcliffe, a Toronto-based development company, brought the long-vacant 1930s-era art deco style building back to life after it had sat vacant for several years.

“Our background is in heritage properties but we’re also committed to keeping spaces open to the public,” Eve Lewis, CEO of Woodcliffe, told the Toronto Star.

“Many historic buildings like this in Europe have been turned into a food hall. These are concepts that people will revisit and we hope this becomes a neighbourhood place.”

Tenants include Aburi Sushi; Dave’s Genuine Deli, which offers Jewish-style fare; Harry’s Charbroiled burger joint; Venezuelan food specialist Arepa Republic; Boxcar Social coffee bar and Musoshin Ramen.

Located at 499 Richmond Street, the property is reminiscent of its original use. The originally housed St. Andrew’s Market, which was built in 1950 but destroyed by fire a decade later, according to the new food hall’s website. A new public market opened with mixed-use features in 1873. Produce was sold and spaces included a police station and public library.

But the market’s business declined in the 1920s and the building sat vacant for more than a decade before the Waterworks building was designed by the city’s chief architect J.J. Woolnough to help create jobs during the Great Depression.

A complex of connected structures contained city waterworks department office, maintenance and equipment-storage spaces. The property was decommissioned in 2013 and Woodcliffe purchased it in partnership with MOD Development.

The former public works facility was designated a a heritage site in 2017.

The redeveloped property includes 297 condominium units, 15 artists’ residence units and a 60,000-sf YMCA, along with the long-anticipated food hall. The development was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Star reported.

“We’re not as old as European cities, so it’s exciting to take over a building like this that a lot of people didn’t realize was here all along,” Lewis told the Star. “You can’t get a building like this anywhere else.”