The Examplar plant is located at the south end of Ypsilanti, just off I-94 in the triangle formed by Huron, Hamilton, and Spring Streets.
The building was constructed in 1997, when Exemplar moved from a location on Lowell Street. The plant employed over 100 people at the time, and was sold the city-owned site on South Huron to keep them in town. The land was sold to Exemplar for $68,000, less than the City's previous asking price of $400,000. Four years later, in 2001, Exemplar went bankrupt.
In June of 2006, the winery, brewery, and food service supply company GW Kent purchased the empty plant for $3.15 million, expanding from a location in Pittsfield Township, and will use it for warehousing and wholesaling.
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In the early 1990s, Ypsilanti had three auto-related plants. Motor Wheel, which made wheel parts, closed its doors in 1997 and moved to Mexico. Exemplar, which made battery cables and fasteners for cars and trucks, went bankrupt in 2002.
