Self Storage Feasibility Study in Tennessee

Tennessee storage is over-indexed and large

With a location quotient of 1.39x, storage claims a bigger portion of lending in Tennessee than across the country, and the loans themselves are big: a median of $1.1 million is 1.14x the national figure, with typical requests from $560,500 to $1.9 million. From FY2017 through FY2026 there were 36 loans totalling $49.2 million, 25 of 50 among states, and the class holds 15 of 39 inside Tennessee, a middling position that is a bit surprising given the high location quotient.

Live Oak leads

SBA 7(a) carried 27 loans and SBA 504 carried 9, and franchise affiliation is 8.3%. Live Oak Banking Company accounts for 13 loans worth $24.9 million, about half of all dollars in the cell, and Bank Five Nine accounts for 7 loans worth $7.0 million. These two national lenders shape the market. Shelby County has 5 loans, Hamilton 4, Knox 3, and Davidson, Dickson, Hawkins and Washington 2 each, a scattered pattern across the state.

Cancellation and the missing charge-off rate

Cancellation reached at least 16.1% of FY2017 to FY2024 approvals, with the same ceiling, so roughly one approval in six never funded. Zoning, construction cost and equity timing are plausible reasons, though the file records none. Tennessee shows no charge-off percentage because the disbursed cohort is under 30 loans, and the blank should be left alone, not read as zero. Approvals peaked at 7 loans in FY2020 and slowed to 2 loans each in FY2024 and FY2025.

What a Tennessee storage study should settle

Count existing storage within a drive time, test absorption of newer buildings, and compare rents for climate-controlled and drive-up units. Costs for land, site work and construction need contingency, since large tickets amplify delay, and the study should price a version of the project at a smaller size in case the first design proves too ambitious. Coverage should be run at a slow lease-up. The appraisal for a new building rests on stabilised income, and must support the loan on an as-complete basis.

Caravan and watercraft yards lack a separate code, so they are counted inside self storage or other warehousing.