Self Storage Feasibility Study in the Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC Metro Area

Charlotte storage: seventh among metro areas

Self storage places strongly in SBA's file for the Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC area: the area is 7 of 513 among metro and micro areas for the class, even though the class itself sits 13 of 39 inside the area. 32 loans worth $58.0 million are on file for Charlotte, covering FY2017 to FY2026. Charlotte runs 1.76x on location quotient and 1.56x on median loan size (median $1.5 million). Big loans, a heavy local weight and a top-ten metro placing make a combination that lenders will take seriously and that a new entrant has to answer.

Half of Charlotte's storage loans fall between $662,500 and $2.2 million. Live Oak Banking Company is listed as the holder of 17 of the 32 loans, carrying $36.7 million, per SBA's list of present holders; the page says nothing about why that bank holds so many, and it does not describe the bank's practices. Gaston County and York County each have 7 loans, and Iredell County has 5. Because the area crosses the state line, York County sits in South Carolina while the other two counties sit in North Carolina. Charlotte gets no program breakdown here. Franchised shares stay off the page for Charlotte.

Two printed years and one blind spot

Two years carry enough loans to show: FY2021 with 7 loans worth $15.6 million and FY2024 with 6 loans worth $11.7 million. Thin Charlotte years are left blank here, never zeroed. Fewer than 30 loans back Charlotte, so no cancellation or charge-off rate. RV and boat parking cannot be separated from conventional storage in the code, which means some of the 32 may be vehicle lots and not climate-controlled buildings, a difference that matters for cost and rent.

Questions for a storage plan on the Charlotte side of the line

A plan for a storage facility here has to measure rentable square feet against absorption, the mix of unit sizes, the rents the site can bear, and the cost of land, construction and any phasing. It has to show that net income covers the payment once occupancy stabilises, with a slower lease-up as the base case. With $1.5 million as the local median, a lender will ask why a request differs from it, and the study should show the competing facilities near the site, the access and the visibility. Counties decide membership in Charlotte, read against the 2023 delineation. An appraiser leans on stabilised income, so each assumption needs support.