SBA 7(a) Gas Station Feasibility Study in Missouri

Missouri's 7(a) fuel station cell is notable for how many approvals fell through. Cancellation took at least 23.9% of approvals through FY2024, unchanged on the wider count, so close to one in four approved projects never reached a funded loan. The other measures describe a mid-sized book: 57 loans, $61.3 million, an $800,000 median that is 0.73x the national 7(a) benchmark for fuel sites, and a central half from $390,000 to $1.5 million. Missouri is 25th on loans counted, and the class is twelfth of 39 inside the state.

Brands and places

A third of loans, 33.3%, are franchised. Saint Louis City leads the counties with 7 loans, Jackson and Saint Louis County follow with 6 each, Greene and Harrison have 5, Ray 3, and Maries, McDonald, Pettis and Taney 2. Harrison County, a rural county, appearing next to Greene suggests highway sites are a part of the story, though the record cannot confirm that.

Three banks

OakStar Bank is first with 11 loans and $15.1 million, The Bank of Houston second with 6 and $6.9 million, and Equity Bank third with 5 and $4.9 million. SBA publishes these as notes held, now or formerly, and the counts do not describe any bank's approach. A buyer thinking of a Missouri fuel site should know that the same few names recur across the table.

The yearly record

Approvals were 3, 3 and 7 in FY2017 to FY2019, then 5, 7, 5 and 6. FY2024 reached 10 loans and $8.5 million, the highest count, FY2025 dropped to 3, and FY2026 returned to 8 loans for $14.4 million, the largest dollar year. Alternating strong and weak years fit a class where each project is large relative to the total.

Limits and what a study must do

Coding is by the borrower's trade, which buries truck stops and travel centers among ordinary stations; the 2022 NAICS index carries no entry for electric charging at all. No charge-off percentage appears, since the funded cohort is small. With so many cancellations, a Missouri fuel study should test the failure points: environmental findings on tanks, brand approval and supply terms, local permits for curb cuts, and financing of the inventory. It should model fuel gallons against traffic, store sales, and debt service when margins narrow, with the appraisal separating land and canopy from the operating business.