Worked Example: SBA 504 Owner-Occupied Retail Feasibility Study in Michigan
A worked example of the feasibility study a lender would read for an owner-occupied retail project in Michigan, financed with an SBA 504 loan.
What SBA's own loan files show about lending in the Ann Arbor, MI Metro Area, every asset class together, and what a feasibility study for a project there has to test.
SBA files rank Ann Arbor 135 of 928 by loans: 702 approvals in FY2017 to FY2026, $334.1 million gross. Median loan: $151,800 in Ann Arbor, 0.73x the national median. That makes Ann Arbor a smaller-ticket market. In Ann Arbor, the middle half of loans runs from $50,000 to $492,675. Because $50,000 and $492,675 frame the middle half, an Ann Arbor borrower should weigh any Ann Arbor request against $151,800 in Ann Arbor.
Program mix in Ann Arbor: 647 under SBA 7(a) in Ann Arbor and 55 under SBA 504 in Ann Arbor. As SBA flags them, 16.7% of Ann Arbor loans are franchise loans. Asset by asset, Ann Arbor shows full-service restaurant with 41, limited-service restaurant with 35 and liquor store with 12. A further 520 Ann Arbor loans sit in no named class in Ann Arbor. The class lines for Ann Arbor therefore never sum to 702. All Ann Arbor loans trace to Washtenaw County, MI, with 702 approvals, so Ann Arbor behaves as a one-county market in Ann Arbor.
In Ann Arbor, holder lines build on SBA's record in Ann Arbor of loans a bank has or had, per the holder field in Ann Arbor, which tells volume, not practice. Ann Arbor holders should be read that way. The Ann Arbor SBA 7(a) table opens with The Huntington National Bank with 255 loans worth $40.4 million; Chelsea State Bank with 35 loans worth $17.6 million; Fifth Third Bank with 34 loans worth $27.0 million. Under SBA 504, Ann Arbor lists Michigan Certified Development Corporation with 41 loans worth $28.5 million first. The first holder in Ann Arbor sets the pace. Even so, an Ann Arbor borrower may take a study elsewhere in Ann Arbor.
Of Ann Arbor approvals from FY2017 to FY2024, at least 10.9% were cancelled after approval. Ann Arbor has a ceiling of 12.8% when undisbursed loans count as cancelled. For the Ann Arbor disbursed cohort of 257 loans, FY2017 to FY2021, the floor is 3.9%. 1.9% were charged off inside five years. Ann Arbor's busiest printed year was FY2024, with 109 loans. Each loan lands in Ann Arbor by its project county, matched by name with the July 2023 delineation, and the loan whose county in Ann Arbor fails to match is dropped from all areas. The 702 loans in Ann Arbor, MI include those in no named class.
Demand leads the Ann Arbor list. Count the customers within reach of the parcel itself in Ann Arbor, never the metropolitan area, while holding a slow start for Ann Arbor. Project cost follows in Ann Arbor. The middle half runs $50,000 to $492,675, though every line should rest on bids in Ann Arbor, with contingency stated openly in Ann Arbor. Serviceability is the heart of Ann Arbor. Present the ratio for the amount plus a case with lower revenue, to find the Ann Arbor breakeven revenue. Ann Arbor appraisers challenge weak assumptions, so each source behind the numbers needs sources that survive review in Ann Arbor. Inside Ann Arbor, MI, submarkets differ widely. Its 702 loans average across them all, so an Ann Arbor study must name the Ann Arbor submarket it means. At 0.73x of the national median, Ann Arbor projects run modest in Ann Arbor. A large project must show why Ann Arbor can absorb its scale, against $151,800.
| Loans approved, FY2017 to FY2026 | 702 |
|---|---|
| Gross dollars approved | $334.1 million |
| Median loan | $151,800 |
| Middle half of loans, from | $50,000 |
| Middle half of loans, to | $492,675 |
| SBA 7(a) loans | 647 |
| SBA 504 loans | 55 |
| Franchise share of loans | 16.7% |
| Rank among metro and micro areas by loans | 135 of 928 |
| Median loan against the national median | 0.73x |
| Cancelled after approval, FY2017 to FY2024 approvals (a floor) | 10.9% |
|---|---|
| The same, counting loans still undisbursed as cancelled (a ceiling) | 12.8% |
| Charged off to date, FY2017 to FY2021 disbursed loans (a floor) | 3.9% |
| Charged off within five years of approval | 1.9% |
| Loans in that cohort | 257 |
Both rates are floors. SBA withholds the status of open loans, so a loan counts as charged off only once SBA reports it; a rate needs at least 30 loans in its cohort and is otherwise not reported.
SBA loans approved in the Ann Arbor, MI Metro Area, by fiscal year
| Fiscal year | Loans | Dollars |
|---|---|---|
| FY2017 | 62 | $26.0 million |
| FY2018 | 64 | $25.2 million |
| FY2019 | 63 | $20.4 million |
| FY2020 | 60 | $26.9 million |
| FY2021 | 51 | $31.6 million |
| FY2022 | 68 | $43.4 million |
| FY2023 | 84 | $45.6 million |
| FY2024 | 109 | $37.6 million |
| FY2025 | 87 | $32.7 million |
| FY2026 | 54 | $44.7 million |
| Asset class | Loans |
|---|---|
| Not in any of the 39 asset classes | 520 |
| Full-service restaurant | 41 |
| Limited-service restaurant | 35 |
| Liquor store | 12 |
| Coffee shop and snack bar | 12 |
| Dental office | 9 |
| Gas station and truck stop | 8 |
| Fitness center | 8 |
| Child care center | 8 |
| Automotive mechanical repair (car and truck) | 7 |
| Medical office (physicians) | 7 |
| Beauty salon | 7 |
Classes with 5 or more loans; smaller ones are withheld, and more where a small one could be derived.
| Lender | Loans | Dollars |
|---|---|---|
| Michigan Certified Development Corporation | 41 | $28.5 million |
| Lender | Loans | Dollars |
|---|---|---|
| The Huntington National Bank | 255 | $40.4 million |
| Chelsea State Bank | 35 | $17.6 million |
| Fifth Third Bank | 34 | $27.0 million |
| KeyBank National Association | 26 | $13.8 million |
| Bank Michigan | 24 | $17.5 million |
Lenders with 5 or more loans here; a lender with fewer is not listed, and loans SBA or a receiver holds are counted but never listed as a lender.
| County | Loans |
|---|---|
| Washtenaw County, MI | 702 |
Counties with 5 or more loans; smaller ones are not listed.
Metro is the CBSA (metropolitan or micropolitan statistical area) of the loan's project county, July 2023 delineation (OMB Bulletin 23-01). The county is matched by name (manifests/ld2/county-cbsa-map.csv); a loan whose county cannot be placed in a 2023 CBSA is left out of every metro.
All assets: every 7(a) and 504 approval in the metro, including those outside the 39 asset classes.
A value marked withheld rests on fewer than 5 loans, or is withheld so that such a figure cannot be derived from other published figures.
Source: U.S. Small Business Administration, 7(a) and 504 loan-level FOIA files (data.sba.gov), as of 2026-09-30; areas from the U.S. Census Bureau CBSA delineation, July 2023 (OMB Bulletin 23-01); Loan Analytics metro cell MT-11460.
A worked example of the feasibility study a lender would read for an owner-occupied retail project in Michigan, financed with an SBA 504 loan.
Loan Analytics prepares the feasibility study a lender reads before it commits: for a commercial project in the Ann Arbor, MI Metro Area, financed under SBA 7(a), SBA 504, USDA Business and Industry or a conventional bank loan. Tell us the project and the lender's deadline, and we reply with scope, timeline and fee.
Start with the data.
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