From a note by Cheryl Farmer, outgoing Mayor of Ypsilanti:
…I am happy to report that the Exemplar building at the exit from I-94 has finally been sold. The bankruptcy case kept it in limbo a long time. We have Renee and Matt Greff to thank for suggesting to their distributor that this would be a great opportunity to expand his business by moving to Ypsi. The new owners are committed to improving the landscaping too. Let’s all start inviting the businesses we need to come to town! Likewise, let’s continue supporting the ones we already have. Depot Towners have had a saying for years that ” if you can’t buy it in Depot Town, you probably don’t need it.” We can expand this concept to the whole city!
Thanks again to the Greffs, and the Michigan beer industry! (And let this be a reminder to everyone as to why having events like the Michigan Summer Beer Fest here in Ypsi is important. I’m sure that the experience of being here in town for that event each year had more than a little to do with why G.W. Kent, when told of the opportunity, were receptive to it. I don’t want to go off on too much of a tangent, but, in my opinion, it’s absolutely critical that we continue to allow new events like the Beer Fest to come to town, and allow the ones that are already coming here to grow. For those of you that don’t know, legislation was recently introduced in Ypsi which would keep large, new events like Elvisfest and Beer Fest from locating in Ypsi. From what I understand, it also made it extremely difficult for the Beer Fest to expand from a one-day format to a two-day format.)
update: I’ve edited this piece to reflect that it was in fact G.W. Kent moving into the Exemplar facility and not Rave Associates. G.W. Kent is the company from which the Greff’s buy their brewing supplies. (I used to buy my brewing supplies from them too, back in the pre-wife, pre-baby, pre-blog days, when I had the time to homebrew.) I had, incorrectly so, jumped to the conclusion when the Mayor said “their distributor” that she meant the distributor of their finished product – Rave Associates. It didn’t occur to me that they had a distributor on the other end of the process as well. Thanks to CIty Council member John Gawlas for setting me straight.
5 Comments
It’s unfortunate that your city leaders have put a moratorium on new events.
Very cool. Now they just need to bring someone in for the Visteon plant.
For those of you that don’t know, legislation was recently introduced in Ypsi which would keep large, new events like Elvisfest and Beer Fest from locating in Ypsi.
This is the most retarded thing I’ve heard in a long time.
If I get a chance, I’ll post something tonight on the moratorium. A few people have written in to suggest that my characterization isn’t correct, and I’d like to post their thoughts, and to share a few of the things that I’ve heard. I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t know the whole story, but what I do know is that the city almost lost the Beer Fest when they said they wanted to expand to two days. We aren’t in a position where we can afford to drive away people coming in with money, who might not come to Ypsi otherwise. It’s bad business.
I guess I never had a chance to follow-up on that. Sorry.
I did, however, have an opportunity to yell at the Greff’s for not solving all the rest of our city’s problems, and finding a company to take posession of the Visteon plant. (They thought that I was kidding.)
I will get back to all this moratorium business someday, when I have more time. I promise.