Gas Station Feasibility Study in Florida

Florida gas stations: a smaller median, a thin share

Florida's gas station and truck stop loans are distinctly smaller than the national norm: the median approval of $782,500 is 0.74x the class median nationwide, and our screen finds that figure distinct from both Florida's overall SBA record and station lending nationally. Stations are also a thin slice of Florida's SBA activity (location quotient 0.37x), ranking 15 of 39 among Florida classes, though the state's size still places it 7 of 53 among states on 196 loans and $203.2 million over FY2017 to FY2026.

Lenders, sizes and the Florida map

Half of Florida's approvals land between $400,250 and $1.4 million. Florida station owners took 156 loans under 7(a) and 40 under 504, and franchised stations take 38.8%. TD Bank, National Association holds 34 loans totalling $8.4 million; Paradise Bank holds 12 loans that reach $30.0 million. Stone Bank, The MINT National Bank and Celtic Bank Corporation each hold 6 of the loans. Among certified development companies, Florida Business Development Corporation is attached to 20 loans for $20.8 million, while 17 loans for $18.3 million are attached to Florida First Capital Finance Corporation, Inc. Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties have 18 loans each, Hillsborough 17, Orange 15 and Lee 11.

A cancellation floor to plan around

Cancellation took at least 21.0% of the station loans Florida approved in FY2017 to FY2024, and 21.6% counting loans still waiting on funds. Our screen does not flag that rate as distinct, but in absolute terms it means a borrower must expect real friction between approval and closing: environmental reports, tank compliance, fuel-supply agreements and the appraisal can each delay or end a deal. Losses are milder: write-offs so far reach 3.8% of the 80 Florida station loans disbursed in FY2017 to FY2021, and 1.3% within five years, and both are floors. For a Florida lender, losses that come late point to fuel margins and store sales over the full term.

A Florida gas station study has to test fuel and store demand at the specific corner: traffic counts, turning access, the stations already competing for those gallons, and the convenience store sales the site can support. Cost covers land, canopy, tanks and store, or the purchase price of a going concern, with environmental work priced. Debt service coverage should rest on fuel gallons and store margins at realistic levels, with a margin for price swings. The appraisal will value the property as a going concern and as real estate, and the study should reconcile the two. The class has limits: the borrower's industry code is what is counted, a truck stop or travel centre is indistinguishable from a station here, and EV charging, absent from the 2022 index of industry codes, cannot be counted at all.