Feasibility Study Data for the Chico, CA Metro Area

Gas stations lead, and 504 plays a real part

Chico is Butte County, CA alone, with 342 loans and $219.6 million from FY2017 to FY2026, ranking 219 of 928. The leading tracked class is gas station and truck stop, 16 loans, ahead of full-service restaurant at 13 and limited-service restaurant at 12; medical office and fitness center show 8 each, and car wash, hotel and motel and rehabilitation and therapy clinic 6. Another 234 loans fall in no tracked class.

A $329,350 median puts borrowing at 1.58x the national level, with loans from $121,600 to $762,250 in the central half. Franchise brands account for 12.6% of loans. Of the total, 257 are 7(a) and 85 are 504. Five names appear on the 504 list: Greater Sacramento Certified Development Corporation with 39 loans worth $32.5 million, Superior California Economic Development, Inc. with 15 worth $6.0 million, CDC Small Business Finance Corp. with 9 worth $12.9 million, California Statewide Certified Development Corporation with 9 worth $11.1 million and, last, The Mortgage Capital Development Corporation, 8 loans, $14.6 million.

7(a) holders

SBA's holder field is a record of where loans are held now; it does not tell a reader how a bank decides. First by count, with 45 loans worth $10.6 million, is U.S. Bank, National Association, Tri Counties Bank 24 worth $9.2 million, and Banner Bank 12 for $2.2 million, with 19 at Wells Fargo Bank National Association. Readycap Lending, LLC holds only 10 but they total $17.3 million, the highest dollars per loan among the five names listed.

Cancellation after approval is 9.4% or more of FY2017 to FY2024 approvals. Chico has no published cancellation ceiling and no five-year loss rate, because small cohorts stand behind them; we show neither and call neither zero. For 158 funded loans, charge-offs to date are 3.2%, a floor. Annual volume ranged between 24 loans in FY2020 and 42 in FY2017.

What a Chico study should show

A study for a Chico project should test roadside and traffic demand at the site, check how many comparable stations, restaurants or clinics already operate nearby, and size cost for the larger loans seen here. Coverage should survive both floors printed on this page, and the valuation should be defensible. Butte County is placed by the 2023 delineation. Treat this as context for borrowers and lenders; it holds out no promise of approval.