SBA 504 Assisted Living Feasibility Study in Utah

One company defines Utah's 504 assisted living cell. Mountain West Small Business Finance holds 24 loans and $33.0 million out of 29 loans and $40.2 million in the cell, which means that most dollars sit in a single lender's book. Behind that tally stands SBA's list of notes held, which is silent on lending method. Everything else about the cell is read through that concentration: the state ranks fifth on loans counted, and the class is 10 of 39 among Utah classes. A $1.1 million median is 1.34x what 504 borrowers in the class nationwide hit at the midpoint, and the central half spans $483,000 to $2.1 million.

Brands and places

Franchised loans are 17.2%, a notable share for senior housing, where most operators are independent. Davis County leads with 8 loans, Salt Lake has 7, Utah 5, Washington and Weber 2, and Box Elder, Cache, Juab, Kane and Tooele 1 each. The inclusion of Juab and Kane counties shows that some projects are in small towns, where the trade area for residents is thin.

Zero years

FY2017 had 7 loans and $8.1 million, and FY2018 5 loans and $12.1 million, the largest dollar year. FY2019 had a single loan of $404,000, FY2020 4, FY2021 a single loan of $410,000, and FY2022 none. FY2023 had 2, FY2024 none, FY2025 a burst of 9 loans and $9.1 million, and FY2026 none. Gaps this long mean a lender should treat each project on its own, not the trend.

Scope and missing rates

The code at issue is the one for residences with no nursing on the premises; dementia-focused memory care is uncoded, and residences with nursing are tallied in other classes. Utah shows no cancellation or charge-off percentage, the cohorts being too small, and nobody should read zero into that.

What a Utah senior housing study must show

The report should open with the licence category and unit count, then weigh how many older households nearby can pay privately, what rival communities offer, and how many aides each care level needs. Since a single lender dominates, the study should be written to the standards that lender has seen before, with absorption schedules, a break-even occupancy, and reserves. With the building itself financed, price it as senior housing and as something else, and test both loan pieces against a lease-up that drags.