The Lakeland Civic Center became The Lakeland Center in 1996. Twenty-one years later, The Lakeland Center has become the RP Funding Center.

LAKELAND — The Lakeland Civic Center became The Lakeland Center in 1996.

Twenty-one years later, The Lakeland Center has become the RP Funding Center.

The city of Lakeland announced a five-year deal with the Lakeland Magic and RP Funding on Tuesday, giving the building its first corporate name in its 43 years.

"Nineteen years ago, I graduated high school in this building," said Robert Palmer, a Lakeland High grad and the sole owner of RP Funding. "At that moment, I never would have thought my initials would be on it."

RP Funding is a direct-mortgage lender based out of Orlando. With the five-year naming-rights deal, RP Funding will receive exterior and interior building signage. Crews were already removing "The Lakeland Center" signs near Sykes Boulevard on Tuesday. The new signage is expected to be installed within a month.

The deal also includes TV, radio, print and social-media promotion. Palmer's other brand, a tech start-up called HomeValue.com, will be represented on the Lakeland Magic basketball team's uniforms as well as on the court inside George Jenkins Arena. The 37-year-old said RP Funding will be the Lakeland Magic’s founding partner, while HomeValue.com will be the presenting partner.

Based on the contract between the city and the Magic, RP Funding will pay $2.5 million for the building’s naming rights. The city will receive $150,000 per year over the next five years for that portion of the deal. Palmer would not disclose exactly how much he paid for the branding, saying it came at a cost of more than $1 million per year. The total deal likely exceeds $5 million over five years.

“We knew this was coming, we just couldn’t talk about it yet," Palmer said. "We did one deal between the Lakeland Magic, the Orlando Magic and the building, all wrapped into a single deal.”

The RP Funding Center is a multipurpose entertainment complex featuring the 8,000-seat George Jenkins Arena, the 2,200-seat Youkey Theatre and 100,000 square feet of meeting and exhibition space. Throughout the year, the center is the site of varying events: nationally renowned artists and bands, family and athletic events, trade shows, conventions, sporting events, weddings and automobile, boat and equipment showcases.

Jason Refermat, the center's director of marketing, said the naming-rights agreement will help increase revenue used for operation and maintenance of the facility. Center Director Tony Camarillo said the name change and partnership will help the center continue to operate as a self-sustaining venue.

“I think having the Magic come here kind of solidified it,” he said. “It made it worthwhile to rename. I came here and there wasn’t much going on with regards to sponsorship. We started figuring out where do we go next, how do we do it? Once the Magic came on, it became a natural situation for us.”

The idea of changing the center's name was a point of concern during negotiations. Despite the small tweak in 1996, the center has always had the Lakeland name. Lakeland City Manager Tony Delgado echoed Camarillo in saying that none of the interior aspects of the center — George Jenkins Arena and the Youkey Theatre — will be impacted by the re-brand.

"We understand what people have always known this facility to be, but over the last 20 years, we’ve been looking at an opportunity like this," said Delgado, who worked as the assistant director at the center during the late 1990s. "We’ve been searching for an opportunity to find a true name and title sponsor."

Shelly Wilkes, the Lakeland Magic president, said the re-branding began as the NBA’s Orlando Magic searched for a location to host its D-League team — a place for the team to partner with local businesses. She said with $14 million in renovations planned for the RP Funding Center, which Camarillo said will begin in the next couple of weeks, it made selecting the venue “very enticing.”

She said the Orlando Magic negotiated an opportunity for the Lakeland Magic staff to become the sales agent for the building.

“That includes naming rights, includes other entitlement areas that may come on board, such as pouring rights with a beverage provider. So multiple opportunities like that will be coming to pass, and through that there will be a financial benefit to the city of Lakeland for the Lakeland Magic selling those assets on their behalf," Wilkes said.

Based in Central Florida, Robert Palmer Cos. is involved in the financing, marketing and escrow of more than $5 billion in residential real estate, according to information provided by the company. It has a combined staff of nearly 400 and revenues of $100 million annually.

To get the re-branding news out, Wilkes said the announcement was disseminated Tuesday via emails and the Orlando Magic's Facebook page. She said all digital communications bearing the RP Funding Center name would also go into place and The Lakeland Center’s red-and-black theme would be changed to the Magic’s blue, black and gray colors.

“You’ll start seeing those step by step as any marketing communications are coming out about events happening at the RP Funding Center," she said, adding that the changes include street signage around Lakeland and I-4 that directs people to the center. "All of those changes should be happening within the next 30 to 90 days."

Palmer said a “considerable chunk” of his marketing budget will be used to immediately spread the word about the name change and he has a long-term plan to earmark a portion of his company’s advertising budget to support events at the center throughout the term of the partnership.

“Being a Lakeland native, I graduated in that building 19 years ago, that building is obviously special to me," Palmer said. "I think overall, the impact is going to be positive leveraging our marketing relationships and our power in the community to make that building as great as it can possibly be."

With the upcoming renovations and incoming D-League basketball team, Palmer said the benefit of putting his company name on the building will help bring more “cool events” — concerts and sports — and, “Take The Lakeland Center to a new level.”

“We were looking for the opportunity to put our name to a building, and to do it in my hometown is a really big win for our brand,” Palmer said.

Paul Catala can be reached at paul.catala@theledger.com or 863-802-7533. Follow him on Twitter @pcat0226. Brady Fredericksen can be reached at brady.fredericksen@theledger.com or at 863-802-7553. Follow him on Twitter @Brady_Fred.