SBA 7(a) Self Storage Feasibility Study in Kansas

The standout number in Kansas storage lending is a ratio: $437,500 at the median, or 0.45x the national 7(a) benchmark, with the central half of the 28 loans from $238,300 to $782,000. These are small facilities. The cell totals $18.9 million for FY2017 to FY2026, with no franchised loans. Kansas ranks 20 on loans counted, and storage is 14 of 39 among its classes. The basis for treating this cell as distinct is the median itself.

One bank and many counties

Bank Five Nine is the only lender in the table, with 12 loans and $10.1 million, more than half of the cell. That count is volume held, with no comment on practice. Counties are widely spread: Allen, Johnson, Labette, Montgomery and Shawnee have 3 loans each, Reno and Wyandotte 2, and Barton, Bourbon and Brown 1. That spread, with several small-town counties on top, shows that storage lending in Kansas follows small markets and not only the Kansas City suburbs.

Years

Early years were thin: 2 loans in FY2017 at $385,000, 1 in FY2018, 3 in FY2019, and 2 in FY2020. FY2021 and FY2022 had 3 each. FY2023 reached 6 loans and $3.6 million, FY2024 had 2 at $2.6 million, FY2025 had 5 loans and $4.8 million, the largest dollar year, and FY2026 had a single loan of $800,000. Growth is gradual and the counts are small.

Limits of the figures

Kansas cohorts are too small to carry a cancellation figure or a loss figure, so none is shown. Because outdoor parking for recreational vehicles and boats is coded with other storage, some of these loans may finance vehicle lots.

A Kansas storage study

The study should measure the demand in small markets with care: households, businesses, and the number of existing units per resident. A town that already has several facilities is a risk, and a town with none may lack the density to fill a new one. It should show rents, expected lease-up, cost per unit, and a cash flow that does not depend on rapid fill. At loans this small, the borrower may build in phases, and the study should compare phases with a single build. The appraisal should consider what the site would fetch in another use.