Child Care Center Feasibility Study in the Milwaukee-Waukesha, WI Metro Area

Milwaukee child care: a high cancellation floor

The cancellation floor is the figure that stands out beside the state and the class nationally: at least 20.0% of FY2017 to FY2024 child care center approvals around Milwaukee-Waukesha ended up cancelled. No ceiling is printed, because Loan Analytics withholds it. The cell holds 102 approvals worth $55.3 million. Milwaukee is 24 of 493 among all areas for the class, child care is 3 of 39 within Milwaukee, and at 1.70x on the location quotient centers weigh heavily in local lending. A study here should ask why so many approved deals fail to close.

The median is $255,000, only 0.56x the national class median, and $100,000 and $627,500 mark the quartile edges. SBA 7(a) carried 92 loans and SBA 504 carried 10. Franchised units are 14.7%. Home-based providers share the industry code, so some of these loans may not be centers at all. The 30 loans from FY2017 to FY2021 show 0.00% charged off by either measure, and with a group that small both figures are only floors.

Lenders and counties

No lender is large here. Newtek Bank, National Association holds 7 SBA 7(a) loans, though only $389,000, Byline Bank 6 loans and $9.3 million, Waukesha State Bank 5 and $4.7 million, and Readycap Lending, LLC 5 and $219,500. SBA 504 names no lender here. SBA's holder rows give no view of practice. Milwaukee County, WI has 70 loans and Waukesha County, WI 27.

The FY2020 and FY2022 counts are blank because Loan Analytics withholds them. The visible years begin at 6 loans ($3.0 million) in FY2017 and reach 12 in FY2021, 17 in both FY2023 and FY2024 and 12 loans and $7.3 million in FY2026. FY2024 shows only $4.1 million on 17 loans, a thin average worth a question. Milwaukee's totals come from project counties matched to the 2023 delineation.

Testing a Milwaukee child care center

A study should count children and working households near the site in Milwaukee or Waukesha County, and the licensed seats already open. Because so many approvals fall away, confirm licensing, the lease and the equity injection early. Costs for safety build-out and classrooms must be set against $255,000, and enrollment and tuition must cover the loan payment. The 102 approvals show where lending has gone; they say nothing about whether a given site will enrol.