PRESS RELEASE – Virginia Beach Neptunes Baseball Club, LLC announces that an agreement for the naming rights of the planned baseball stadium in Virginia Beach, home of the future Virginia Beach Neptunes, has been reached with a local venture capital company. The baseball team is scheduled to join the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball in 2016.
The naming rights agreement has been signed through the year 2025 by a local business, Wheeler Capital, LLC. Wheeler Capital specializes in venture capital financing and small business loans in the Mid-Atlantic Region, Richmond, Hampton Roads, Virginia, Washington, D.C., North Carolina and Maryland. The stadium will be named “Wheeler Field.”
Jon S. Wheeler, Chairman and CEO of Wheeler Real Estate Investment Trust, has 33 years of experience in developing and acquiring commercial real estate. He and his family have resided in Virginia Beach for over 17 years. Wheeler Capital is not affiliated with any other company in which Mr. Wheeler holds an interest.
Mr. Wheeler commented, “I am very pleased to be involved with the Virginia Beach Neptunes as the sport of baseball has long been called America’s game”. With the addition of the Virginia Beach Neptunes, the city of Virginia Beach- with its surrounding sports enthusiasts and youth baseball community- will fulfill the void that the residents have felt from not having a local “home team” to support. Wheeler Field will be an added and welcomed amenity for the city and its residents.”
Mr. Wheeler has extensive experience in strategic financial and market analyses and assessments of new or existing commercial real estate properties. His past board memberships include Horizons Hampton Roads as Chairman; Monarch Bank, City of Virginia Beach Advisory Board, Chairman; Hampton Roads Community Foundation, board member; Norfolk State University’s Enterprise & Empowerment Foundation (E2F), board member; and Virginia Business Coalition on Health, board member. Currently, Jon serves as the President for the Chesapeake Bay Wine Classic Foundation.
Mr. Wheeler and the Wheeler Benefit Foundation also support numerous charitable causes including VOLUNTEER Hampton Roads, The Noblemen, Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), American Diabetes Foundation, Tidewater Scholarship Foundation (ACCESS), Big Brothers Big Sisters, American Red Cross, Virginia Sports Hall of Fame, Make A Wish Foundation, Children’s Miracle Network, The Neptune Festival, Monarch Bank Charities, Jewish Family Services of Tidewater, United Way (Tocqueville Society), Virginia Beach Sports Foundation, American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, Flagler College, University of South Carolina, One Fund Boston, The Navy Seal Foundation, the Virginia Aquarium and Marine Science Center and Samaritan House.
Virginia Beach Neptunes Vice President and General Manager Joe Pinto commented, “Having Wheeler Capital as the stadium naming rights partner shows our commitment to Virginia Beach and the surrounding communities. Wheeler Field will be a great home for our team and all of the baseball fans in Virginia Beach.”
The planned adjacent 13-field tournament complex for youth baseball/softball also has a naming rights opportunity available, but no deal for that complex has been finalized yet. Groundbreaking is scheduled for Summer 2015 and the Virginia Beach Neptunes are planning to play the 2016 season in Virginia Beach.
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