Worked Example: SBA 504 Gas Station Feasibility Study in Illinois
A worked example of the feasibility study a lender would read for a gas station project in Illinois, financed with an SBA 504 loan.
Feasibility Study Data for the Peoria, IL Metro Area
What SBA's own loan files show about lending in the Peoria, IL Metro Area, every asset class together, and what a feasibility study for a project there has to test.
A cancellation floor of 16.3%, and no charge-off rate
Peoria, IL has a cancellation floor of 16.3% on approvals made up to FY2024. Loan Analytics withholds the ceiling that would add undisbursed loans, and the charge-off rate altogether, because too few loans lie behind them. We guess at neither, and a missing value never means none. The area records 299 loans and $220.6 million for FY2017 to FY2026 and ranks 243 of 928.
Hotel and motel leads the tracked classes by a wide margin, 35 loans, against 22 for full-service restaurant and 10 for veterinary clinic. Gas station and truck stop, fitness center, limited-service restaurant, child care center and coffee shop and snack bar each show 6, and beverage manufacturing and liquor store 5. A further 164 loans belong to no tracked class. Franchise brands appear in 21.1% of loans. Peoria County, IL holds 149 loans, Tazewell County, IL 123 and Woodford County, IL 22.
Size and programme mix
Borrowers take a $275,000 median, 1.32x the national level, while the centre of the range spans $102,500 to $912,500. Of the total, 243 are 7(a) and 56 are 504. Small Business Growth Corporation holds 32 of the 504 loans worth $19.9 million, and SomerCor 504, Inc. holds 12 worth $22.3 million, a much higher figure per loan.
SBA reports who holds or held each loan; these are locators and carry no statement about a bank's rules. Morton Community Bank holds 53 7(a) loans worth $8.0 million, Northeast Bank (ME) 14, First Mid Bank & Trust, National Association 11 worth $3.0 million, U.S. Bank, National Association 10 and Millennium Bank (IL) 9 worth $10.4 million. Annual approvals ranged from 17 loans in FY2020 to 52 in FY2018, and FY2026 produced $38.0 million, the largest annual dollar total.
What the Peoria study must address
Given how many approvals fall away, a study here must make the case that the loan will close: that the site, the entity and the cash flow will survive lender review and the wait between approval and funding. It should test demand against competing lodging or restaurants, size debt service against a conservative case, and support the appraised value. The 2023 delineation places the counties. Lenders and borrowers can use this as background, and nothing in it promises approval.
SBA loans in the Peoria, IL Metro Area
| Loans approved, FY2017 to FY2026 | 299 |
|---|---|
| Gross dollars approved | $220.6 million |
| Median loan | $275,000 |
| Middle half of loans, from | $102,500 |
| Middle half of loans, to | $912,500 |
| SBA 7(a) loans | 243 |
| SBA 504 loans | 56 |
| Franchise share of loans | 21.1% |
| Rank among metro and micro areas by loans | 243 of 928 |
| Median loan against the national median | 1.32x |
Cancellation and charge-off
| Cancelled after approval, FY2017 to FY2024 approvals (a floor) | 16.3% |
|---|---|
| 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 loans approved in the Peoria, IL Metro Area, by fiscal year
| Fiscal year | Loans | Dollars |
|---|---|---|
| FY2017 | 29 | $18.4 million |
| FY2018 | 52 | $27.0 million |
| FY2019 | 19 | $10.0 million |
| FY2020 | 17 | $17.2 million |
| FY2021 | 29 | $27.2 million |
| FY2022 | 30 | $21.8 million |
| FY2023 | 21 | $14.4 million |
| FY2024 | 24 | $15.3 million |
| FY2025 | 43 | $31.2 million |
| FY2026 | 35 | $38.0 million |
Loans by asset class
| Asset class | Loans |
|---|---|
| Not in any of the 39 asset classes | 164 |
| Hotel and motel | 35 |
| Full-service restaurant | 22 |
| Veterinary clinic | 10 |
| Gas station and truck stop | 6 |
| Fitness center | 6 |
| Limited-service restaurant | 6 |
| Child care center | 6 |
| Coffee shop and snack bar | 6 |
| Beverage manufacturing (breweries, wineries, distilleries) | 5 |
| Liquor store | 5 |
Classes with 5 or more loans; smaller ones are withheld, and more where a small one could be derived.
Most active SBA lenders
| Lender | Loans | Dollars |
|---|---|---|
| Small Business Growth Corporation | 32 | $19.9 million |
| SomerCor 504, Inc. | 12 | $22.3 million |
| Lender | Loans | Dollars |
|---|---|---|
| Morton Community Bank | 53 | $8.0 million |
| Northeast Bank (ME) | 14 | $2.3 million |
| First Mid Bank & Trust, National Association | 11 | $3.0 million |
| U.S. Bank, National Association | 10 | $3.1 million |
| Millennium Bank (IL) | 9 | $10.4 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.
Where the loans are, by county
| County | Loans |
|---|---|
| Peoria County, IL | 149 |
| Tazewell County, IL | 123 |
| Woodford County, IL | 22 |
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-37900.
Related feasibility study pages
- Illinois feasibility study consultant
- Feasibility Study Data by Metro Area
- SBA feasibility study company
- Feasibility Study Data for the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN Metro Area
- Feasibility Study Data for the Rockford, IL Metro Area
- Feasibility Study Data for the Springfield, IL Metro Area
- Feasibility Study Data for the Champaign-Urbana, IL Metro Area
- Feasibility Study Data for the Bloomington, IL Metro Area
- Feasibility Study Data for the Decatur, IL Metro Area
- Feasibility Study Data for the Ottawa, IL Micro Area
Feasibility study data by asset class in the Peoria, IL Metro Area
Worked examples
Loan Analytics prepares the feasibility study a lender reads before it commits: for a commercial project in the Peoria, IL 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.
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