What SBA's own loan files show about hotel and motel lending in the Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC Metro Area, and what a feasibility study for a project there has to test.
The Charlotte total comes to 116 approved loans for lodging properties, valued at $351.5 million in gross dollars, within the FY2017 to FY2026 window. Loan size here centers on $3.2 million; set against the category's national median, by SBA's count, that is a ratio of 1.46x, so loans run larger here. On the list of the nation's metro and micro areas, Charlotte comes in at 11 of 807 for this class; inside the area, the category is 5 of 39 inside the asset classes recorded locally. Set beside the national mix, hotel and motel projects fill a larger place of Charlotte lending, a location quotient of 1.37x. The middle half of approvals runs from $1.6 million to $4.4 million.
The 7(a) holders for lodging properties are led as follows: North State Bank leads at 5 ($8.0 million); then Bank of Hope (5). Within 504 lending, the largest holder is Business Expansion Funding Corporation, with 9 loans; Carolina Business Capital, Inc. comes next at 7, and Provident Business Financial Services, Inc. follows at 5. The franchise share of Charlotte approvals is 78.4%. Of the 116 loans, 89 fall under 7(a) and 27 under 504, which shows the route hotel and motel borrowers in Charlotte have taken. Since SBA lists each loan to its current holder, the names for Charlotte show who holds the loans; they say nothing of any lender's decision process.
Project counties rank Mecklenburg County, NC first (53), York County, SC next (22) and Gaston County, NC third (12). The yearly file peaks in FY2026 at 20 loans and $65.1 million, and bottoms out in FY2023 at 5 loans and $18.0 million.
Charlotte is best judged as a county-based figure: by SBA's count, SBA's county of the project, as filed, paired by name to 2023 boundaries, decides inclusion for hotel and motel projects. A lower bound of 15.5% of hotel and motel loans in Charlotte were cancelled after approval among FY2017 to FY2024 approvals, a minimum; the matching ceiling is not printed because the count is small. Motels and hotels sit under a single code, for a reader, so select-service next to full-service properties in Charlotte blur together in these figures. Loan Analytics prints no loss rate for Charlotte hotels and motels, given that fewer than 30 loans were funded from FY2017 through FY2021; a blank here is no zero.
Before anything else, Charlotte demand has to be tested: event and corporate demand, and rate position within rivals. Lending history of 116 approvals reports what institutions did for lodging properties, and says little about any one address. Cost comes next, including renovation and product plans and brand and franchise terms, weighed against the Charlotte median loan of $3.2 million. The coverage check should allow for a sluggish first period, because Charlotte shows hotel and motel approvals that did not run as approved. Approval is never guaranteed by a study, but a study helps a lender and a borrower read the same SBA record for Charlotte. Appraisal questions for hotel and motel projects in Charlotte include stabilized year against ramp-up and value of rooms against land.
| Loans approved, FY2017 to FY2026 | 116 |
|---|---|
| Gross dollars approved | $351.5 million |
| Median loan | $3.2 million |
| Middle half of loans, from | $1.6 million |
| Middle half of loans, to | $4.4 million |
| SBA 7(a) loans | 89 |
| SBA 504 loans | 27 |
| Franchise share of loans | 78.4% |
| Rank among metro and micro areas for hotel and motel loans | 11 of 807 |
| Rank of hotel and motel among the classes in this area | 5 of 39 |
| Location quotient (share of loans against the national share) | 1.37x |
| Median loan against the national median for the class | 1.46x |
| Cancelled after approval, FY2017 to FY2024 approvals (a floor) | 15.5% |
|---|---|
| The same, counting loans still undisbursed as cancelled (a ceiling) | withheld |
| Charged off to date, FY2017 to FY2021 disbursed loans (a floor) | withheld |
Both rates are floors. SBA withholds the status of open loans, so a loan counts as charged off only once SBA reports it; a rate needs at least 30 loans in its cohort and is otherwise not reported.
SBA hotel and motel loans approved in the Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC Metro Area, by fiscal year
| Fiscal year | Loans | Dollars |
|---|---|---|
| FY2017 | 15 | $46.5 million |
| FY2018 | 15 | $33.5 million |
| FY2019 | 13 | $30.5 million |
| FY2020 | 6 | $15.2 million |
| FY2021 | 13 | $33.0 million |
| FY2022 | 9 | $20.2 million |
| FY2023 | 5 | $18.0 million |
| FY2024 | 8 | $37.2 million |
| FY2025 | 12 | $52.3 million |
| FY2026 | 20 | $65.1 million |
| Lender | Loans | Dollars |
|---|---|---|
| Business Expansion Funding Corporation | 9 | $32.4 million |
| Carolina Business Capital, Inc. | 7 | $21.0 million |
| Provident Business Financial Services, Inc. | 5 | $19.5 million |
| Lender | Loans | Dollars |
|---|---|---|
| North State Bank | 5 | $8.0 million |
| Bank of Hope | 5 | $5.6 million |
Lenders with 5 or more loans here; a lender with fewer is not listed, and loans SBA or a receiver holds are counted but never listed as a lender.
| County | Loans |
|---|---|
| Mecklenburg County, NC | 53 |
| York County, SC | 22 |
| Gaston County, NC | 12 |
| Union County, NC | 7 |
| Cabarrus County, NC | 6 |
| Rowan County, NC | 6 |
| Iredell County, NC | 5 |
Counties with 5 or more loans; smaller ones are not listed.
Metro is the CBSA (metropolitan or micropolitan statistical area) of the loan's project county, July 2023 delineation (OMB Bulletin 23-01). The county is matched by name (manifests/ld2/county-cbsa-map.csv); a loan whose county cannot be placed in a 2023 CBSA is left out of every metro.
One code for hotels and motels; limited service and full service cannot be separated.
Shared code: Hotels and motels share 721110.
A value marked withheld rests on fewer than 5 loans, or is withheld so that such a figure cannot be derived from other published figures.
Source: U.S. Small Business Administration, 7(a) and 504 loan-level FOIA files (data.sba.gov), as of 2026-09-30; areas from the U.S. Census Bureau CBSA delineation, July 2023 (OMB Bulletin 23-01); Loan Analytics metro cell MA-16740-C07.
A worked example of the feasibility study a lender would read for a hotel project in North Carolina, financed with a conventional bank loan.
Loan Analytics prepares the feasibility study a lender reads before it commits: for a hotel and motel project in the Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC Metro Area, financed under SBA 7(a), SBA 504, USDA Business and Industry or a conventional bank loan. Tell us the project and the lender's deadline, and we reply with scope, timeline and fee.
Start with the data.
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