SBA 7(a) Gas Station Feasibility Study in Texas

Large loans and heavy franchising in Texas

On count, Texas leads the country in this program's fuel station lending, and the loans are big. The FY2017 to FY2026 file holds 1,239 of them worth $2.05 billion, with a median of $1.4 million, 1.25x what the program's median gas station loan is nationally. Half of the loans fall between $787,750 and $2.3 million. The median is flagged as distinctive for this cell, and it should be: borrowing at this scale reflects fuel, real estate and often a convenience store financed together. Franchise share is 50.4%, so about half of the borrowers operate under a brand, and fuel retail is third among Texas's 39 classes.

Lenders, counties and the annual pattern

Wallis Bank appears with 198 loans and $397.0 million, then Metro City Bank with 159 loans and $238.4 million, two names at the head of the table. Celtic Bank Corporation has 55 loans worth $74.4 million, Commonwealth Business Bank 51 worth $81.9 million and Southwestern National Bank 45 worth $95.8 million. SBA's file lists loans on each bank's books and cannot tell us how any of them lends. Harris County leads with 179 loans, Dallas has 137 and Tarrant 121, with Bexar at 36 and Montgomery at 29. Yearly approvals peaked at 220 in FY2021 and have settled between 86 and 123 since.

Cancellations and a surprisingly clean charge-off record

At least 14.5% of Texas fuel station approvals in the FY2017 to FY2024 span never funded, and the share is 14.6% if undisbursed loans are counted too, so a real share never closed. The disbursed cohort of 599 loans tells the opposite story: just 0.67% are charged off to date, and 0.00% in the first five years. Both are floors, yet they look light beside most restaurant and service classes.

What the code covers

Coding follows the borrower's industry. A truck stop or travel centre lands in the same bucket as a pump-only station, and charging for electric vehicles has no listing at all in the 2022 industry index. A Texas fuel project built around diesel and heavy trucks and one built around a corner store behave differently, though both land in this record.

What a Texas gas station study has to test

A study has to start with the site: traffic counts, turning movements, the visibility of the pricing sign, and the competing stations within a short drive. Fuel earns a thin margin per gallon, so the study should separate fuel gallons from inside sales, where most of the profit sits, and test a lower-volume case. If a brand is involved, fees and supply terms belong in the model. Environmental condition of the land, tank age and compliance cost are central, as is the price of the real estate against a median near $1.4 million. Repayment should survive a low-gallon year, and an appraiser will rest the value on income and fuel-related risk.