Worked Example: SBA 504 Owner-Occupied Retail Feasibility Study in Michigan
A worked example of the feasibility study a lender would read for an owner-occupied retail project in Michigan, financed with an SBA 504 loan.
What SBA's own loan files show about lending in the Marinette, WI-MI Micro Area, every asset class together, and what a feasibility study for a project there has to test.
Marinette stands 422 of 928 by loans, drawing 124 SBA approvals over FY2017 to FY2026, $70.0 million gross. In Marinette, $243,450 is the median loan, 1.17x the national median. Half of Marinette loans sit between $94,500 and $577,500, larger tickets than in Marinette the national norm in Marinette. Lenders working Marinette see tickets from $94,500 to $577,500 most often. A Marinette study should place its project inside that $94,500 to $577,500 range in Marinette.
In Marinette, SBA 7(a) carries 117 loans and SBA 504 carries 7. In Marinette, franchise brands account for 7.3% of the loans. In Marinette, leading classes: full-service restaurant with 14, hotel and motel with 8 and gas in Marinette station and truck stop with 6. Another 73 approvals fall in no named class, so Marinette totals 124 loans, more than its classes combined. In Marinette, the counties carrying most volume are Marinette County, WI with 91 and Menominee County, MI with 33. A state line crosses Marinette. Rules differ by side in Marinette. Name the state behind each Marinette input.
In Marinette, holder lines build on SBA's reporting on loans a holder owns or owned, per the note, which tells volume, not practice. Marinette holders should be read that way in Marinette. Heading the Marinette SBA 7(a) list: The Stephenson National Bank and Trust with 47 loans worth $16.5 million; First National Bank & Trust Co with 13 loans worth $2.6 million; Farmers & Merchants Bank & Trust with 10 loans worth $7.5 million. No holder in Marinette, WI-MI reaches the 504 table threshold. The Marinette 504 side carries no lender names. The first holder in Marinette sets the pace. Even so, a Marinette borrower may take a study elsewhere in Marinette.
The cancellation floor for Marinette is withheld because too in Marinette few loans stand behind it, so Marinette gets no number here in Marinette, and none should be read as zero. The Marinette loss rate, to date, across disbursed loans of FY2017 to FY2021 remains hidden in Marinette, cohort thin; we leave Marinette blank and do not call it zero. Marinette trend: the busiest year is FY2022, at 27 loans. Each loan lands in Marinette by whichever county the project names per the July 2023 delineation, consequently the loan whose county fails to match falls outside every area. The 124 loans in Marinette, WI-MI include those in no named class in Marinette.
Demand leads the Marinette list. Show the draw of the proposed site, not a micropolitan area in Marinette, while holding a slow start for Marinette. Project cost follows in Marinette. The norm of $243,450 is only a guide, so every line item wants a source, with contingency stated openly in Marinette. Debt service coverage is the Marinette hinge. Run the ratio at the proposed amount alongside a weaker revenue case, letting a Marinette lender see the margin. An appraiser values the Marinette property independently, so the study's rent and caps must explain any gap in Marinette. In Marinette, a micropolitan area, the base is thin: 124 loans. A large Marinette project may borrow comparables elsewhere. With Marinette at 1.17x the national median in Marinette, projects run large in Marinette. The study must justify its project for Marinette against $243,450.
| Loans approved, FY2017 to FY2026 | 124 |
|---|---|
| Gross dollars approved | $70.0 million |
| Median loan | $243,450 |
| Middle half of loans, from | $94,500 |
| Middle half of loans, to | $577,500 |
| SBA 7(a) loans | 117 |
| SBA 504 loans | 7 |
| Franchise share of loans | 7.3% |
| Rank among metro and micro areas by loans | 422 of 928 |
| Median loan against the national median | 1.17x |
| Cancelled after approval, FY2017 to FY2024 approvals (a floor) | 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 loans approved in the Marinette, WI-MI Micro Area, by fiscal year
| Fiscal year | Loans | Dollars |
|---|---|---|
| FY2017 | 12 | $9.3 million |
| FY2018 | 13 | $7.4 million |
| FY2019 | 10 | $3.6 million |
| FY2020 | 11 | $4.7 million |
| FY2021 | 21 | $14.5 million |
| FY2022 | 27 | $10.8 million |
| FY2023 | 6 | $4.0 million |
| FY2024 | 7 | $4.9 million |
| FY2025 | 6 | $7.1 million |
| FY2026 | 11 | $3.7 million |
| Asset class | Loans |
|---|---|
| Not in any of the 39 asset classes | 73 |
| Full-service restaurant | 14 |
| Hotel and motel | 8 |
| Gas station and truck stop | 6 |
Classes with 5 or more loans; smaller ones are withheld, and more where a small one could be derived.
| Lender | Loans | Dollars |
|---|---|---|
| The Stephenson National Bank and Trust | 47 | $16.5 million |
| First National Bank & Trust Co | 13 | $2.6 million |
| Farmers & Merchants Bank & Trust | 10 | $7.5 million |
| Nicolet National Bank | 9 | $3.6 million |
| The Huntington National Bank | 6 | $2.2 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 |
|---|---|
| Marinette County, WI | 91 |
| Menominee County, MI | 33 |
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.
All assets: every 7(a) and 504 approval in the metro, including those outside the 39 asset classes.
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 MT-31940.
A worked example of the feasibility study a lender would read for an owner-occupied retail project in Michigan, financed with an SBA 504 loan.
Loan Analytics prepares the feasibility study a lender reads before it commits: for a commercial project in the Marinette, WI-MI Micro 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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