Gas Station Feasibility Study in the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN Metro Area

Gas stations at a $1.2 million median

Chicago-area gas station and truck stop loans number 209 for FY2017 to FY2026 and total $271.1 million. Across 600 metro and micro areas this one is ranked 6 for the class; inside Chicago the class is 9 of 39, and 0.92x as a location quotient puts the share of lending just under the national figure. The median loan, $1.2 million, is 1.14x the nationwide class midpoint, and the quartiles are $690,000 and $1.7 million. Franchise affiliation is common, at 63.2% of loans, reflecting branded fuel supply agreements.

Lenders and programs

Programs divide the 209 loans into 186 on 7(a) and 23 on 504. Byline Bank dominates the 7(a) list with 61 loans worth $100.6 million. Enterprise Bank & Trust follows with 17 worth $24.0 million, then Millennium Bank (IL) with 13 worth $18.6 million, The Huntington National Bank with 13 worth $6.5 million and Merchants Bank of Indiana with 12 worth $21.6 million. On the 504 side SomerCor 504, Inc. has 10 loans worth $11.6 million and Regional Development Company 7 worth $7.1 million. Take these as SBA's attribution of holders, with no reading of credit appetite.

Geography and the year pattern

Cook County holds 80 loans, Kane 38, and DuPage, Lake and McHenry 17 each, while Will has 14 and Indiana's Porter and Lake counties 7 and 6. Approvals peaked in FY2021 at 37 loans and $52.6 million and have eased since, to 14 loans in FY2025 and 11 loans and $15.2 million in FY2026. The filing code reflects the borrower's industry, which folds truck stops and travel centers in with stations lacking a convenience store; neither can be split out, while EV charging has no code to itself.

Cancellations, charge-offs and the study

Both cancellation bounds read 23.4%: the floor drawn from FY2017 to FY2024 approved loans and the ceiling that adds undisbursed loans, which makes the range a point and a high one. Charge-offs to date reach 8.2% or more of 97 disbursed loans from FY2017 to FY2021. The rate over five years is held back on thin numbers; held back is not nil. A loan is placed in the Chicago area by the name of the county where its project sits, read against the 2023 map. Before a fuel loan is made here, the study should examine fuel volume and traffic counts, in-store sales, which carry the margin, environmental condition of the site and tank compliance, debt service coverage at this ticket size, and the appraisal.