Skip to main content
search
Tag

buildings

Dec 06
Love0

AMA Champion Roland Sands and Nitro Circus star Andy Bell team up

By General Posts

Roland Sands, left, Andy Bell and Erik Bond inside the joint headquarters of Roland Sands Design and Sweatpants Media

from https://lbbusinessjournal.com/ by Brandon Richardson

‘Nitro Circus’ star, ex-motorcycle racer team up to open creative business campus in Zaferia

A gearhead and an adrenaline junkie meet at a trade show. There is no punchline.

Andy Bell and Roland Sands hit it off immediately nearly 20 years ago and have been friends ever since. The two went on to create separate businesses—Roland Sands Design and Sweatpants Media—and, after years of operating out of their respective headquarters, have come together to create a joint home base in Long Beach’s Zaferia neighborhood.

The companies together purchased a multi-building property at 1365 Obispo Ave. with a vision for a creative campus. Along with their firms, the graphics company Spin Imaging and Moxi Roller Skates also will call the campus home in a building separate from Sands’ and Bell’s space.

“We just wanted like-minded but different companies here to fuel a vibe of people that are stoked and doing rad stuff,” Bell said.

“People we can hang out with,” Sands added. “Fabrication, 3D fabrication, film, photography, graphics, printing—it’s all here. Almost any project is possible here, and that’s a pretty special thing.”

The friends almost missed out on the space, Sands said. The building was listed in 2018, but he was not in a position to take on the project by himself—and Bell was not ready to jump into such a massive undertaking. But when another buyer went into escrow on the site, the pair said they instantly knew they made a mistake.

“This place was built in the ’40s, and it’s gorgeous,” Sands said.

After months in escrow, the deal fell through, and Bell and Sands pounced. They bought the property for about $3 million in July 2019.

The Roland Sands Design custom motorcycle shop inside the company’s new Long Beach headquarters

The tenant had a few months left on their lease, so the roughly $2.5 million buildout did not get underway until just before the pandemic, which slowed progress on the rehab. But after nearly two years, the companies are celebrating their grand opening Saturday.

The space features a retail store (open Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.), a screening theater, 3D and other fabrication facilities, a wood-working space, a motorcycle garage, design rooms and a slew of offices. It also includes a bar, a two-chair barbershop for special events for clients that could also be utilized by a tattoo artist, and dozens of motorcycles and helmets on display.

A third building is currently set up as a jam space for musician friends of Bell and Sands. The room has a stage and is full of vintage and modern musical equipment. The two said they have toyed with the idea of turning it into a legitimate music venue, but that won’t happen until well into the future, if at all.

Bell and Sands each had a career riding motorcycles—the latter racing on the roads of the U.S., the former flying through the air in freestyle motocross—before they met each other in the early 2000s at a motorcycle trade show in Indianapolis.

Sands, a Long Beach native, grew up around motorcycles.

“I was fully immersed in the culture because my dad was in the motorcycle industry,” Sands said, adding that he would work in his dad’s shop as a kid.

In 2005, after a racing career that included winning the 1998 American Motorcyclist Association 250cc Grand Prix Championship, Sands turned his success—and name—into a brand. The firm specializes in creating custom bikes and parts (some of which are 3D-printed). The company has grown to include a clothing and apparel line as well as a racing team.

Bell, meanwhile, was not so much into the technical side of the sport.

“I’m more of an adrenaline junkie,” Bell said, sitting in his new office complete with a beer tap. “I never liked building and working on the s—, I liked riding and jumping them.”

After his professional freestyle motocross career, Bell went on to become a stuntman, appearing on numerous TV shows and films, including “Rob Dyrdek’s Fantasy Factory” and “Jackass 3D.” Most notably, Bell starred in the “Nitro Circus” films and MTV series alongside Travis Pastrana and a host of other extreme-sport athletes.

Bell founded Sweatpants Media in 2012.

“I needed a change from getting hurt for a living and all the crap we used to do,” Bell said. “I didn’t know anything about production, but I’d been around it as talent. I’ve never owned a real business before and a decade later, here we are.”

Today, Sweatpants has numerous high-end clients, including Toyota, Red Bull, Mercedes, Lexus and Japanese powertool manufacturer Makita. With over 15 million views on YouTube, Sweatpants’ “The Pitch” for Toyota was the most widely viewed commercial in the U.S. in the third quarter, Bell said.

“The Pitch” – 2022 Toyota GR Supra Commercial by Sweatpants Media (15 million+ views since June 2021)

Bell and Sands try to utilize each other and their respective businesses as much as possible. The companies have teamed up on projects, including creating a custom bike for BMW with an accompanying video. After the premiere, the pair and their wives rode BMW bikes around Italy’s Lake Como.

On another project, Sweatpants flew three Toyota trucks into Vietnam and then drove them across the country. Sands and Bell were two of the three drivers who made the trek.

“We don’t like to fake s—,” Bell said. “Instead of pretending we were in Vietnam and pretending we flew trucks under helicopters, we actually did it. There is a tinge of adventure in everything we do.”

“We like to combine work and play,” Sands added.

Sands convinced Bell to move into a house around the corner from his on Naples Island in 2010. The best friends were neighbors for years before Sands moved to Park Estates.

For the last 12 years, Los Alamitos was home to Sands’ business, but he said he has always wanted to open a space in his hometown, closer to where he lives. For nearly nine years, Sweatpants operated out of the historic Villa Riviera in Downtown. But the two are looking forward to the quasi-business merger.

“We’re stoked. It’s fun being best friends and business partners,” Bell said. “There’s a little bit of yelling and a lot of hugging; a lot of wanting to punch each other and then a lot of wanting to drink beers together.”

“Thankfully for us,” Sands added, “we want to drink with each other more than we want to fight.”

The Roland Sands Design retail space at the company’s new joint headquarters with Sweatpants Media

Jul 25
Love0

Creation of Harley-Davidson Museum

By General Posts

The new 8,200-square-foot “Garage,” is to be an event facility and replace a seasonal tent on the grounds, and will certainly increase the value of the property.

by Michael Horne from https://urbanmilwaukee.com

  • Name of Property: Harley-Davidson Museum
  • Address: 400 W. Canal St. Milwaukee. Also known as 126 N. 6th St.
  • Assessed Valuation 2020: The 661,807-square-foot (15.93 acre) lot is assessed at $1,899,100 ($2.87/s.f.) and the 110,250 square foot improvements are valued at $10,120,600 for a total assessed valuation of $12,019,700. (In 2008 the land was assessed at the same amount, while the improvements were valued at $9,000,900 for a total of $10,900,000.)
  • Taxes: 2020 Tax Bill $319,187.51. Payments current on the installment plan.
  • Owner: HD MILW, LLC
  • Type: Commercial
  • Architect: HGA in collaboration with Pentagram Architects. Harley-Davidson Museum – HGA
  • Year Built: 2007
  • Neighborhood: Menomonee River Valley
  • Subdivision: Walkers Point
  • Aldermanic District: 12th, Jose G. Perez
  • Walk Score: 61 out of 100 “Somewhat Walkable” Some errands can be accomplished on foot. Score would leap if pedestrian connection over canal to east were constructed. City average: 63 out of 100
  • Transit Score: 69 out of 100 “Good Transit” Many nearby public transportation options. City average: 48 out of 100
  • Bike Score: 78 out of 100; “Very Bikeable.” Biking is convenient for most trips. Plus, it is flat terrain, once you cross the 6th St. Viaduct. City average: 59 out of 100
  • Bridgehunter 6th Street Viaduct https://bridgehunter.com/wi/milwaukee/bh36811/
  • 1910 Map https://cdm17272.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/san/id/855
  • 1894 Map https://collections.lib.uwm.edu/digital/collection/san/id/241/rec/9
  • Historic Photos of Site https://www.thevalleymke.org/history

Schlitz beer may have made Milwaukee famous, but the Cream City’s most famous and widely available product is the Harley-Davidson motorcycle. The firm has retailers in 98 countries spanning the globe. So strong is the brand loyalty that the H-D logo is frequently requested by customers at tattoo parlors. The firm’s headquarters remains at 3700 W. Juneau Ave., where the first factory was built in the back yard of the home of William C. Davidson (1846-1923). His sons Walter Davidson, Sr. (1876-1942), William A. Davidson (1870-1937) and Arthur Davidson (1881-1950) founded the firm in 1903 with their neighbor, engineer William S. Harley (1880-1943). Since 1915 the company has set aside one of each model made, storing the machines along with an incredible amount of corporate memorabilia in its warehouses and other facilities. The collection of motorcycles includes the earliest known H-D vehicle, Serial Number One.

Such a burgeoning assemblage begged to be placed in a home of its own, so during the 1990s the firm hired Dr. Martin Jack Rosenblum (1946-2014), a UWM professor and poet who styled himself as The Holy Ranger, a character appealing to the motorcycle crowd, becoming a cult figure in his own right. According to his obituary:

Marty was a diehard Harley enthusiast and while working for Harley-Davidson, he was responsible for organizing the archives, motorcycles, and materials that went back to the beginning of the Motor Company. His efforts played a major role in the creation of the current Harley-Davidson Museum.

But where to locate the museum? The company wanted a high-visibility location, so the headquarters was out of the running. There were plans to place it at Schlitz Park, the site of the former brewery, but they fell through. But in the early 2000s, a home was found on 15 acres of land at the eastern end of the Menomonee River Valley, surrounded by canals on three sides, and contaminated by over a century of heavy industrial uses.

A parcel was assembled on land used by the Milwaukee Department of Public Works, Morton Salt Company and Lakeshore Sand Company at 125 N. 6th St. The huge property was bisected by W. Canal St., and located between the two spans of the cable-stay bascule bridges of the new 6th St. Viaduct, a dramatic structure that opened to traffic in 2002. It replaced a 1908 viaduct that spanned the entire valley, with a small spur leading below. When engineers from the state proposed a similar design, Mayor John Norquist pushed instead for the current one, which allowed for development of the region to accelerate with ground level access to W. Canal St.

On June 1st, 2006, a groundbreaking ceremony was held, with a distinctly H-D touch. Eschewing the traditional golden shovels, the soil was broken by dirt biker Scott Parker, riding a Hog. Attendees received a small vial of the earth, with a tag attached, commemorating the event. The museum opened to the public on July 12th, 2008, and now ranks as one of the city’s top tourist attractions and event venues. At the time, the city assessor calculated the property’s value at $1,899,100 for the land and $9,000,900 for the improvements, for a total valuation of $10,900,000. Today the land is valued at the same amount, while the improvements are assessed at $10,120,600 for a total of $12,019,700.

It will soon be time for the assessor to pay another visit to the property, as a second groundbreaking was held on Thursday, July 15th, as Jeramey Jannene noted in his story for Urban Milwaukee. Once again, a motorcycle replaced the golden shovels. The new 8,200-square-foot “Garage,” is to be an event facility and replace a seasonal tent on the grounds, and will certainly increase the value of the property.

The Site in History

“Milwaukee” is sometimes translated from the Native American “Milioke” as “Gathering Place by the Water.” The Menomonee River flowed lazily to its confluence with the Milwaukee and Kinnickinnic rivers, rimmed by native plants and wild game, with abundant marshes of wild rice (“Menomin”) to provide grain. The Potawatomi tribe occupied the land by the 1700s. Other tribes to gather here at various times included the Ojibwa, Fox, Menominee, Ottawa, Sauk and Winnebago. They were displaced by white settlers in 1835. By 1850 the Milwaukee and Mississippi Railroad ran from the valley five miles west to Wauwatosa, ultimately reaching the Big Muddy at Prairie du Chien in 1857.

Byron Kilbourn, the founder of the railroad, intended it to bring the bounty of Wisconsin’s farms and forests to Milwaukee’s port. As early as 1861, Milwaukee’s port led the world in the shipment of wheat, exporting as much in a day as Edward D. Holton did in a year, when he sent the first load by ship in 1842. As traffic grew, port improvements were called for, and by 1869 the valley floor was raised 21 feet, while the bluffs to the north were lowered as much as 60 feet. The river was channelized, and the site for the Harley Museum was for a period of time an island, with the since-filled-in Holton’s Canal to its west, along with the extant North and South Menomonee canals. Bagnall’s Slip, also since filled in, ran east-west on the middle of the site, now the middle of the museum.

For over a century, the four-mile long and half-mile wide valley became the polluted heart of “The Machine Shop of the World,” with hundreds of factories employing thousands of residents in a panoply of 19th century industrial jobs.

Here, at the northeast corner of the valley, where we now find the museum, were located a number of enterprises typical of the time. One of them has a family connection to its current use.

J. S. Davidson’s “Shoddy Mill”

The Sanborn Atlas of 1894 shows a number of heavy industrial uses on the site. J. Gross & Sons and the Wisconsin Fuel Co. stored mountains of coal on the site, while the Milwaukee Lumber Company, Steinman Lumber Co. and Moe and Bentley did the same with the enormous volume of logs transported from the interior of the state. J. Rademacher did them one better, dealing in coal and wood. A. C. Beck planed the lumber at its mill, while Mueller & Sons converted scraps into boxes, with the entire third floor of its factory devoted to the manufacture of cigar boxes.

The map also mentions the “Shoddy Mill” of J. S. Davidson. This was not to disparage the property of Mr. Davidson, but to describe it for fire insurance purposes. A “Shoddy Mill” is used to convert waste fabric scraps into an inferior type of cloth, often used to stuff mattresses. Many of this city’s industrial recycling firms began with an early family member buying rags and transporting them to the mill. Upon such humble beginnings are great fortunes made.

The mill’s owner, John S. Davidson (1849-1907) was the younger brother of William C. Davidson, whose three sons and William Harley were to found the motorcycle company in 1903.

By 1910 we find a new viaduct rising 22 feet above the site, with a U-shaped approach leading to the docks of the Western Line and Cement Co., organized by Orren Robertson, the son-in-law of Edward D. Holton, whose canal was right around the corner from the cement warehouse. Bentley and Company’s lumber piles averaged 12-feet to 15-feet high. Davidson’s shoddy mill was gone, with the adjacent Gross coal piles expanding to that site, at more than twice the height of their woody counterparts.

As the decades rolled on, the entire valley fell into a general disuse, with only a few firms remaining by midcentury. These tended to be rather disagreeable affairs like stockyards, slaughterhouses, and the Milwaukee Tallow Company, whose malodorous emanations were familiar to nearby residents and County Stadium visitors on humid summer nights, and much remarked upon. The Stockyard Bar and Feedlot Restaurant lasted until the late 1980’s, located right in the middle of the mess and popular with those who used knives at work, and occasionally for mischief, as a scarred bartender who worked at the establishment made abundantly clear.

The Site Today

By 1999 the Menomonee Valley Partners was incorporated to help redevelop the area, including the Harley site, raised yet another five feet to contain the contaminated soil beneath. The sheds of the city were torn down, as the factories preceding it had been decades before. HGA designed the brick-clad structure, which was once again surrounded by native plants and trails. The Menomonee Valley Partners also is now spearheading the reclamation of the stagnant and polluted Burnham Canal to the south. The valley has also drawn a number of modern factories, sandwiched between American Family Field, the Potawatomi Casino and Hotel and the Harley-Davidson Museum — three of the area’s principal attractions, which have returned the valley to its historic role as the “Gathering Place by the Water.”