Feasibility Study Data for the Fort Wayne, IN Metro Area

Fort Wayne in the SBA loan record

Fort Wayne, IN is a metropolitan area, and its 907 SBA approvals in FY2017 to FY2026 carried $377.3 million in gross dollars. Fort Wayne also differs on losses: the floor below, for 907 loans, differs from the national picture. Fort Wayne is an upper-tier area: 105 of 928 by loans. Fort Wayne is read whole in Fort Wayne, IN, every class counted. A slice of IN is not how Fort Wayne is treated.

$50,000 to $455,000 spans the middle half of Fort Wayne loans, and $153,000 is the median. Fort Wayne sits well below the national level: its 0.74x ratio to the national median means Fort Wayne requests sized nationally may look large. Fort Wayne: 7(a) leads the mix, with 817 7(a) loans against 90 under 504. Fort Wayne franchised businesses took 13.9% of loans, so a branded concept in Fort Wayne needs a brand-cost check in Fort Wayne.

Who lends in Fort Wayne, and for what

Full-service restaurant (44 loans); limited-service restaurant (39 loans); hotel and motel (28 loans); fitness center (18 loans) lead the tracked classes in Fort Wayne. Fort Wayne also holds 667 loans outside every tracked class; Fort Wayne small business lending shows here. Fort Wayne's busiest counties are Allen County, IN with 792, Whitley County, IN with 70, and Wells County, IN with 45, so a Fort Wayne project's boundary matters when Fort Wayne borrowers cite area-wide figures. Fort Wayne 7(a) volume: The Huntington National Bank ($17.0 million, 49 loans); Lake City Bank ($9.4 million, 33 loans); First Merchants Bank ($6.7 million, 29 loans). Fort Wayne 504 lending is led by 75 loans at Community Development Corporation of Fort Wayne ($38.4 million); 8 loans at Indiana Statewide Certified Development Corporation ($8.3 million). The Huntington National Bank, with 49 loans, tops the Fort Wayne rows, each an SBA record of Fort Wayne loans held or once held; none judges Fort Wayne lenders.

Fort Wayne ended FY2026 at 56 loans, lower than FY2017's 126; the peak came in FY2017 (126 loans, $38.6 million) and the low in FY2026 (56). A Fort Wayne borrower should know the cancellation record: 10.7% as a floor and 11.9% as a ceiling, for FY2017 to FY2024 Fort Wayne approvals. 1.8% is the floor for Fort Wayne loans charged off among the 440 disbursed in FY2017 to FY2021. The Fort Wayne five-year loss figure is withheld; Fort Wayne cannot read it as zero. Fort Wayne, IN membership follows the July 2023 delineation; Fort Wayne counties are matched by name, and a Fort Wayne loan with no match is dropped, so 907 is a floor, and every Fort Wayne rate is too.

Fort Wayne: what a study has to test

For Fort Wayne, a study tests Fort Wayne demand within a defined trade area, since Allen County, IN dominates Fort Wayne loan counts. If a Fort Wayne concept resembles full-service restaurant, Fort Wayne offers size and lender precedent; other Fort Wayne concepts must rest on their own Fort Wayne evidence. Test Fort Wayne coverage of debt service on a $153,000 loan, and on a $455,000 loan, after pricing Fort Wayne costs from bids. Fort Wayne is metropolitan; a Fort Wayne appraisal belongs in one submarket, not behind Fort Wayne averages. Nothing printed for Fort Wayne predicts approval; each Fort Wayne lender still reviews a study.