Gas Station Feasibility Study in Washington

Few cells in the SBA record show a class this central to a state. Washington's location quotient for gas stations and truck stops is 3.17x: the class claims a far bigger slice of Washington's SBA lending than it does nationally, and it ranks 3 of 39 among Washington's classes. The state approved 622 loans from FY2017 to FY2026 for $1.30 billion, 3 of 53 among states. The measure that separates this cell from Washington's all class record and from the class nationally is the loan size. The median is $1.8 million, or 1.72x the national median for stations, with the middle half of loans packed between $1.0 million and $2.9 million.

Large loans with almost no losses

Those loans have performed. Of 278 disbursed in FY2017 to FY2021, only 0.36% have been charged off so far, with 0.00% inside five years of approval, below both Washington's floor and the class nationally. Cancellation after approval was 10.9% for FY2017 to FY2024 approvals, or 11.3% with undisbursed loans counted, under the national rate for stations. Dollars have climbed, from $91.6 million on 61 loans in FY2017 to $164.6 million in FY2021 and $200.9 million on 76 loans in FY2024, then $164.5 million on 60 loans in FY2026.

Who finances Washington stations

This is a 7(a) market: 591 loans against 31 under 504, and franchise operators account for 60.9% of them. Readycap Lending, LLC leads with 94 loans for $234.4 million, then PCB Bank (74 loans, $165.4 million), Commonwealth Business Bank (63 loans, $112.2 million), Celtic Bank Corporation (38 loans, $90.6 million) and Hanmi Bank (36 loans, $83.6 million). Evergreen Business Capital (15 loans, $30.4 million) is the leading 504 lender. Lending spreads across Pierce (96 loans), King (89), Snohomish (72), Yakima (52) and Thurston (44), with Pierce ahead of King.

What a Washington station study must measure

At this size, the study is central to the credit. Demand has to cover fuel gallons and inside sales separately, with traffic counts, access and the stations already on the corridor. Cost must include tanks, canopy, environmental work and any car wash or food service. Stress the coverage ratio on fuel margins below today's, because a large loan leaves little room. The appraisal has to separate the real property, the equipment and the business value, since many station loans finance the purchase of a going concern, and it should rest on a current environmental review.

Read the record with its limits. The code records what the borrower said it does, and it lumps truck stops and travel centers in with fuel stations that lack a convenience store, so neither can be split out. EV charging, for its part, is absent from the 2022 NAICS index, so any charging revenue is invisible here.