SBA 7(a) Gas Station Feasibility Study in Florida

Florida fuel retail under the 7(a) program

Florida is a heavyweight in fuel retail financing, and the 7(a) program is where its gas station and truck stop borrowers show up most plainly. SBA's loan files list 156 such loans for FY2017 to FY2026, adding up to $160.3 million in gross dollars. In the state ranking for this program and class, Florida is seventh, counted by loans. At home, though, the class is an average citizen, taking 15 of 39 on the list of industries financed in the state. What sets the Florida record apart from its parent groups is the loan size. Florida's median of $754,350 comes to 0.69x the median for gas stations and truck stops across the country, and the middle half runs from $259,750 up to $1.4 million, a wide band that covers a convenience-store lease and a real estate purchase alike. Franchise brands appear on 32.1% of loans.

Holders, counties and the year-by-year pattern

The lender table counts holders as of SBA's latest file, which can differ from the bank that made a given Florida loan. TD Bank, National Association leads with 34 loans but only $8.4 million, a book of small tickets. Paradise Bank holds 12 loans worth $30.0 million, a much heavier average ticket. Stone Bank and The MINT National Bank each hold 6, worth $6.6 million and $5.8 million, and Celtic Bank Corporation also holds 6, worth $4.5 million. By county the activity spreads across the peninsula: Hillsborough 16, Miami-Dade 15, Palm Beach 15, Orange 14, then Lee with 9. Volume moved around without a clear trend, with 21 loans in FY2017, a dip to 11 in FY2020, a rebound to 24 in FY2021 and $13.4 million across 17 loans in FY2025.

What the outcome floors say

Borrowers cancelled at least 18.6% of the Florida approvals made in FY2017 through FY2024, and adding the loans still awaiting disbursement does not move it off 18.6%, so nearly all of the attrition is outright cancellation. Of the 68 loans that funded between FY2017 and FY2021, at least 4.4% are charged off to date, and the narrower five-year window gives 1.5%. That spread is a reminder that a charge-off often arrives late, and that loans still open may add to these floors. A lender weighing a Florida fuel request should treat them as minimums and not as a settled loss rate.

Tests for a Florida fuel project

A study for a Florida gas station loan has to show where the traffic comes from, and the 7(a) record gives reasons for care: a cancellation floor of 18.6% means plans do change between approval and closing. Gallons and in-store sales should be built from a count of passing vehicles and the competing sites on the same corridor, with the real estate valued separately from the business. Cost has to reconcile with a median near $754,350 and still be explained if the project runs larger, as the upper quarter of loans does. The payment cushion must hold when pump margins thin out. The appraisal must support both land and going concern. One coding caution: each loan carries whatever industry the borrower reported, which leaves travel plazas indistinguishable from the corner station, while a charging-led project would not appear at all, since the 2022 NAICS index lists no entry for it. The industry code also holds gas stations that have no convenience store.