Playing off the success of San Francisco's Ferry Building Marketplace, a local partnership is planning to build a market for 35 food merchants on First Street next to Copia.

The Oxbow Public Market will offer specialty foods and wines in the tradition of the colorful public markets of Europe, drawing locals and tourists to central Napa, said Steve Carlin, the CEO of Oxbow Management.

Operating seven days a week, the market will have as many as five casual restaurants, with deck seating overlooking the Napa River and the new nature preserve on the far bank.

The market will be a "one-stop shop for best-in-class food, drink and home entertaining," according to promotional literature, envisioning the $7 million project becoming a "world-class major attraction."

Oxbow Public Market is the subject of a Planning Commission hearing at 7 p.m. Thursday at City Hall.

City staff is recommending approval, saying an indoor public market would work well with Copia and the seasonal Napa Farmers Market in the Copia parking lot.

"This really brings the food component to the Oxbow District," said Cassandra Walker, the city's economic development director. The market could become a major destination for people walking the planned river trail through the city, she said.

The market would be housed in two stylish, barn-like buildings totaling almost 23,000 square feet on Copia-owned land on the north side of First, adjacent to the Copia parking lot. Two older office buildings and a house would be demolished.

The public market and Copia should benefit each other by attracting people from the same upscale demographic, Carlin said. By offering fresh produce, cheeses, meats and baked goods, the market should be equally appealing to locals planning dinner, he said.

Craig Smith, executive director of the Napa Downtown Association, said the market would help make the Oxbow District a tourist destination, while proving irresistible to locals who flock to Trader Joe's. "I think more of us are interested in eating better," he said.

The district debuted five years ago with the opening of Copia, which has struggled in part for lack of supporting businesses. With the City Council's approval Tuesday night of the 160-room Riverbend Resort Hotel on Mc Kinstry Street, the district will soon have two hotels.

In addition to Riverbend and the River Terrace Inn, a third hotel, the stalled Napa Resort and Spa hotel, approved in 2002 for Silverado Trail near First, is showing signs of revival. A new buyer is looking at the 351-room project, Walker said.

The Oxbow Public Market is scheduled to break ground this fall and open in late 2007, Carlin said.

Carlin, who ran Oakville Grocery for 20 years, was project manager of two-year-old Ferry Building Marketplace, which helped revitalize the San Francisco waterfront. Napa's public market will be one third the size, but with a similar mix of informal dining and artisan food and wine producers, he said.

Napa Valley already has enough "fussy" restaurants," Carlin said. There will be 150 to 200 seats on the deck overlooking the river and 60 seats on the deck facing First, he said.

Twenty-five private investors form Oxbow Market, which is working in partnership with Oxbow Management. Oxbow Management intends to spread the public market concept to other cities. Projects are in the development stage in Santa Rosa and San Jose, Carlin said.

Carlin is the CEO of Oxbow Management. The development manager is Rob Mann, who redeveloped the corner of First and Franklin streets for Talbots and Backroom Wines. The chief operating officer is Bart Rhoades, formerly CEO of PCW Communications, which publishes PC World and Macworld magazines.

Because the site sits in a flood zone, the buildings will be elevated 5 feet. The flood control project will eventually protect the site. The extra elevation gives diners a better river view, Carlin said.

To satisfy city parking requirements, the market will build 20 spaces for employees and share 71 spaces in the Copia parking lot, exceeding city requirements, city planners said. If parking ever became a problem, Copia would have to devise an off-site parking solution.

The low-slung buildings, with walls of brick and roofs of metal, were designed by San Francisco architects Baldauf, Catton and Von Eckartsberg, designers of the retail space in the Ferry Building public market.