Feasibility Study Data for the Charleston, WV Metro Area

Charleston in the SBA loan record

Charleston, WV logged 200 SBA approvals in FY2017 to FY2026, worth $97.7 million in gross dollars. Charleston counts as a mid-table area, ranked 313 of 928 by loans. Charleston is read whole in Charleston, WV, every class counted. A slice of WV is not how Charleston is treated.

$50,000 to $375,500 spans the middle half of Charleston loans, and $125,000 is the median. Charleston sits well below the national level: its 0.60x ratio to the national median means Charleston requests sized nationally may look large. Charleston: no program count is printed. In Charleston, one program rests on very few of 200 loans; withheld never means zero. Charleston franchised businesses took 12.5% of loans, so a branded concept in Charleston needs a brand-cost check in Charleston.

Classes, counties and lenders in Charleston

In Charleston, WV, hotel and motel (10 loans); fitness center (5 loans); limited-service restaurant (5 loans); beauty salon (5 loans) lead by loans in Charleston. Another 154 Charleston loans sit in no tracked class, so Charleston totals describe operating businesses, not only property. Charleston's busiest counties are Kanawha County, WV with 186, so a Charleston project's boundary matters when Charleston borrowers cite area-wide figures. Charleston 7(a) volume: The Huntington National Bank ($13.5 million, 90 loans); MVB Bank, Inc. ($1.5 million, 14 loans); Fifth Third Bank ($10.2 million, 10 loans). The Huntington National Bank, with 90 loans, tops the Charleston rows, each an SBA record of Charleston loans held or once held; none judges Charleston lenders.

Charleston goes from 14 loans in FY2017 to 21 in FY2026, ending higher: the peak was 26 in FY2024, and the trough 12 in FY2021. Charleston cancellations stand at 12.4%, a floor, for Charleston approvals in FY2017 to FY2024; Charleston's ceiling is withheld, never zero in Charleston. Of the 83 loans in the Charleston cohort for FY2017 to FY2021, 6.0% are charged off, a floor. The Charleston five-year loss figure is withheld; Charleston cannot read it as zero. Charleston faces a geography limit: Charleston, WV uses the July 2023 definition; 200 loans are matched by county, and unplaceable Charleston loans are omitted, so Charleston counts and rates are floors.

Charleston: what a study has to test

A Charleston feasibility study begins with Charleston demand from the right counties: Kanawha County, WV leads the loan counts, though Charleston is wider. If a Charleston concept resembles hotel and motel, Charleston offers size and lender precedent; other Charleston concepts must rest on their own Charleston evidence. Charleston costs belong on local bids; test Charleston debt service coverage for a loan near $125,000, and again near $375,500. Charleston appraisals compare within one submarket of Charleston, WV, not across averages. Nothing printed for Charleston predicts approval; each Charleston lender still reviews a study.