Jon Wheeler has served as the chief executive officer of Resurgent Realty Trust (RRT) in Virginia Beach since 2024. In this position, he manages real estate strategies centered around grocery-anchored shopping center real estate assets, including a 9-6-12 investment metric that emphasizes cap rates, interest rates, and investment yields. Jon Wheeler oversees all real estate and investment activities at RRT, including property acquisition, financing, asset and property management, and the renovation of grocery-anchored shopping centers headlined by nationally recognized brands like Safeway and Kroger. Before joining RRT, Mr. Wheeler spent six years as the chief executive officer of WREI, another grocery-anchored shopping center-focused investment company. He managed and sold 11 assets at an accretive benefit to investors at WREI. He has held leadership positions with other grocery-anchored real estate companies dating back to 1999, when he co-founded Perrine Wheeler in Norfolk. Mr. Wheeler is a member of the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) and the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts. He holds a political science degree from Southern Methodist University in Dallas.
What is your typical day, and how do you make it productive?
My days start early and are filled with multiple activities personally and professionally. 5AM: wake up, coffee and banana/apple; 5:30AM: emails, texts, news; 8AM: gym, steam, shower; 9:30AM: office, calls, Zoom, Teams, meetings; 11:30AM: lunch; 1:00PM: office, calls, Zoom, Teams, meetings; 4:00PM: home, walking dogs, prep dinner; 6:00PM: dinner; 7:30PM: tv, movies; 9:30PM: bedtime
How do you bring ideas to life?
Communication, inclusiveness, and delegation.
Being a significant delegator, I try to empower our associates and others to be self-starters. My office door is always open. Everyone hears the good, bad, and indifferent. We have a team of five in management that meet every Tuesday at 9AM for two hours each week. We review the previous week, comparing successes and failures or issues that remain unresolved, and plan for the next week ahead. Purest form of problem solving.
What’s one trend that excites you?
It’s easy to say AI as it’s the new phenomenon but being in the real estate business, I focus on grocery-anchored shopping centers. As such, I believe in co-tenancy and cross-shopping. Meaning there’s a real reason, benefit and excitement as to who goes next to whom and why. Also, it’s a “chess match” of upsizing, downsizing, relocating, and disposing of certain tenants that have fallen out of favor.
What is one habit that helps you be productive?
Health and fitness. At 64 years old, I believe I’m healthier and in better shape today than in my 30s and 40s. It’s a primary focus to exercise and eat correctly with clean foods.
What advice would you give your younger self?
Don’t drink alcohol. I stopped “cold turkey” three-and-a-half years ago, since drinking beer boating on the lake starting at 14 years old. Nothing good comes from alcohol. You may as well be drinking engine oil.
Tell us something you believe almost nobody agrees with you on?
Being a self-starter and an optimist, I tend to look for the good vs the bad. Our team of five always counsels me to look at everything 360 degrees. I believe the “more eyes the better”. More is “more” expensive and less is “less” expensive from a headcount standpoint.
What is the one thing you repeatedly do and recommend everyone else do?
Focus on health and fitness. Without your health you have nothing.
When you feel overwhelmed or unfocused, what do you do?
I compartmentalize. Literally, put each item/issue/matter in a box and then move onto the next, returning to the first one and then “rinse and repeat.”
What is one strategy that has helped you grow your business or advance in your career?
I used to be a huge enabler trying to solve everyone else’s problems. Once I realized that it was not effective, I was able to create more value and opportunity by dismissing those that would not step up to the cause or take initiative. Lead, follow, or get out of the way.
What is one failure in your career, how did you overcome it, and what lessons did you take away from it?
Being fired from my namesake company Wheeler Real Estate Investment Trust that I took public (NASDAQ:WHLR). I was the founder, chairman, CEO, and president. I was fired for six alleged offenses. I had to sue my own company. The judge ruled unanimously in my favor on all six. I was completely vindicated, but the shadow existed for many years. Only now have I felt confident. While it took perseverance and the steadfast belief in myself that I had done nothing wrong, the negative exposure was a burden. It has now been lifted and I’m rebuilding my real estate enterprise. Lessons learned. Complete trust in others has been damaged. Time will heal all ill-will.
What is one business idea you’re willing to give away to our readers?
Start your own business. It’s never too late. Colonel Sanders of the KFC didn’t reach his pinnacle of success until he was 70.
What is one piece of software that helps you be productive? How do you use it?
Excel and ARGUS or two software programs that we use in our business underwriting assets. Excel for a quick read of financial stability and then ARGUS for 10-year projections.
Do you have a favorite book or podcast you’ve gotten a ton of value from and why?
- A Message to Garcia by Elbert Hubbard
Colonel Rowen is the subject. He asks you to do something. You do it legally and professionally and your own way. You report back that the task was completed. Otherwise, if he asked you to do something and you didn’t, then he would stop asking you. If he stopped asking you, then he wouldn’t need you anymore. - Whoever Makes the Most Mistakes Wins by Richard Farson and Ralph Keyes
You must make mistakes to learn. You don’t want to make million-dollar mistakes, but if your supervisor micro- manages you, then you’ll never learn. - The Go-Giver by Bob Burg and John David Mann
The more you give, the more you get.
What’s a movie or series you recently enjoyed and why?
Dr. Zhivago
The movie is a 1965 epic historical romance. The story is set in Russia during WWI and the Russian Civil War.
Landman
It’s an American drama television series based upon a landman for an oil company.
Both are dear to my heart as I was a Political Science major at SMU in Dallas with a specific emphasis on Russian politics. Also, I was born and raised in Tulsa, OK, where my family was in the real estate and oil and gas businesses.
Key learnings
• Have an open door policy to watch, listen, and learn,
• Take someone different out to lunch weekly.
• Winners make mistakes, it’s the only way to learn and grow.