Physical Therapy Clinic Feasibility Study in the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV Metro Area

Rehabilitation and therapy clinics in the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria area are a story of small notes spread over many jurisdictions. The file counts 76 approvals between FY2017 and FY2026 for $18.1 million, which puts the area at 9 of 406 metro and micro areas on this class, while within the metro the class holds just 11 of 39 places. At 1.30x, the location quotient shows a local share of loans higher than the nation's. Yet the $150,000 median is level with the class's national median, 1.00x, so size is not where this area departs from the country; breadth of locations is.

Counties, lenders and size band

Montgomery County, MD leads the project counties with 14 loans, followed by the District of Columbia with 12, Prince George's County, MD with 12, Fairfax County, VA with 11, Frederick County, MD with 7 and Prince William County, VA with 5. A borrower here may face licensing and zoning regimes from the District and two neighboring states within a single commute. Central loans fall between $50,000 and $298,500 in size. Manufacturers and Traders Trust Company shows 19 loans totaling $1.9 million, a count that dwarfs its dollars; Newtek Bank, National Association shows only 6 but at $2.7 million, a far larger average.

Program mix, trend and the floors

Under 7(a) there are 68 loans and under 504 only 8, which fits a class whose projects are mostly leasehold build-outs and equipment. Volume rose into the end of the series, with 10 loans and $1.6 million in FY2024, 12 loans and $4.8 million in FY2025 and 13 loans and $4.4 million in FY2026. Later cancellation reached at least 19.6% of FY2017 through FY2024 approvals; adding the undisbursed loans leaves that floor where it is. SBA leaves out the franchise share and some yearly rows, and it reports no charge-off rate as fewer than 30 loans make up its cohort. Missing is not zero. Every figure comes from SBA's file on loans in the area's project counties, drawn on the July 2023 metro map.

What a clinic study has to test

A therapy-clinic study here should begin with referral supply: physician and employer relationships, and which payers reimburse at what pace, since cash lags service. Site work should compare lease terms across the District, Maryland and Virginia submarkets, where parking and transit access differ. Fit-out and equipment cost belong beside the $150,000 median and the top of the central band. The coverage test needs a ramp from first patient visits to a full schedule, with therapist hiring ahead of revenue. A lender looking at the area's higher cancellation floor will reasonably ask whether the sponsor has a licensed clinical lead already in place.