Gas Station Feasibility Study in the Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC Metro Area

Charlotte stations: below national weight, below median size

Charlotte, Concord and Gastonia is 27 of 600 for gas stations and truck stops, and within the area the class is 10 of 39. The location quotient, 0.83x, shows gas stations a little lighter in local lending than in the country. The area crosses into South Carolina; SBA's files hold 44 loans for $35.4 million. Ordinary gas station loans in Charlotte, Concord and Gastonia run $322,500 to $1.1 million, centered on $618,000, which is 0.59x of the national gas station median.

By program, 6 gas station loans use SBA 504 while 38 use SBA 7(a), and a franchise brand is attached to 29.5% of the loans. Mecklenburg County has 18 loans, Union County 5 and Lancaster County 5. Under 7(a), the lenders named are Pinnacle Bank (TN) with 6 loans and $4.9 million and Citizens Bank (TN) with 6 loans and $3.8 million. Each entry is the lender on record for those loans, as SBA reports it, and no verdict on either bank is implied. This is a holding record.

Cancellation reached 13.5% at minimum among gas station approvals of FY2017 to FY2024, counted only as SBA logged them. The ceiling for cancellations is blank, as is the charge-off rate; Loan Analytics will not print a figure that rests on so few loans, and withheld never means zero. FY2017 brought 6 loans and $6.7 million; FY2019 brought 8 loans and $5.4 million; FY2020 brought 5 loans and $4.0 million; FY2021 brought 5 loans and $4.0 million; and FY2024 brought 6 loans and $4.3 million. The other years are not printed because each holds too few loans.

What a Charlotte fuel study tests

A station and a travel center look alike here, and the 2022 NAICS index offers no entry for EV charging. Area membership is decided by the county of the project measured on the July 2023 map. No county match, no inclusion. A study should test fuel gallons and in-store sales, brand supply terms, site access and competition, environmental history, and debt service. With half of the loans between $322,500 and $1.1 million and a median of $618,000, coverage should be run at both ends of that range. These figures are context for a gas station assessment at a site in the area, and approval is not implied.