Warehouse Feasibility Study in California

California leads warehouse lending

California ranks 1 of 46 among states for SBA warehouse and distribution loans, with 116 approvals worth $123.8 million from FY2017 to FY2026, and a 1.26x location quotient puts California's warehouse share above the national one. It is a niche inside the state, 25 of 39 among California classes. The median loan of $499,000 is 1.00x the national warehouse median, exactly level, and our screen flags nothing.

A mixed program book

SBA 504 carries 33 approvals and SBA 7(a) 83, and the middle half runs from $176,125 to $1.5 million, a range that holds both operating loans and building purchases. Franchise units are 6.0%. Business Finance Capital and CDC Small Business Finance Corp. hold 7 of the 504 loans each, for $11.8 million and $8.6 million, and The Mortgage Capital Development Corporation holds 6 for $11.8 million; CDC Small Business Finance Corp. also appears among 7(a) holders with 5. U.S. Bank, National Association and Northeast Bank hold 7 each, CalPrivate Bank 5 worth $8.1 million. Los Angeles County leads with 41 approvals and San Bernardino has 17, with Orange, Riverside and San Diego at 8 each.

Outcomes

California's warehouse loans have no charge-offs yet: the 43 funded in FY2017 to FY2021 show 0.00% to date and within five years. Cancellation is the visible risk, at least 12.7% of FY2017 to FY2024 approvals and 16.5% if undisbursed loans count as cancelled. Approvals have risen, to 21 in FY2025 and 16 in FY2026, each worth $15.2 million.

A feasibility study for a California warehouse business should start with who pays for the space: contracts with shippers, retailers or manufacturers, their length and their concentration. Demand also depends on location, so the study should test the site's access to highways, ports and population against competing facilities. Cost covers racking, handling equipment, any building purchase or improvements and temperature control where needed, priced from quotes. Coverage should be built on contracted revenue with a vacancy or lost-client case. If the deal buys the building, an appraiser will price it as industrial space any operator could use, which the study should support with comparable leases and sales.

Only public warehousing is in this class. A manufacturer or retailer storing its own goods is classed under its own trade, so California's owner-occupied warehouses mostly appear elsewhere.