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 tenant had a few months left on their lease, so the roughly $2.5 million buildout
