Prepared for lenders, CDCs, and federal agencies to SBA SOP 50 10 8, USDA RD Instruction 5001, and conventional underwriting standards. Fiduciary duty runs to the lender and the agency, never the borrower. More than 4,000 studies since 1998 covering $40.2 billion in evaluated project value.
Travel centers are logistics infrastructure with retail attached. Feasibility turns on the freight corridor: truck AADT and its commodity mix, parking demand against the chronic national shortage of truck parking, diesel volume capture at the interchange, and the driver-amenity package that determines whether professional drivers route to the site. The study models diesel and gasoline volumes separately, sizes foodservice and store revenue to the captive dwell-time population, and evaluates fleet-fueling contract potential where the location supports it.
Methodology combines FHWA and state DOT truck-volume data, interchange-level capture modeling, fuel-pricing surveys on both the auto and diesel sides, and industry benchmarks from NATSO and OPIS. Component pro formas for fuel, store, foodservice, and parking-services revenue feed a consolidated model stress-tested to the engagement's program standard.
Every Wert-Berater financial model is fully linked with no hardcoded values, so any reviewer can stress any input. Deliverables comprise a complete narrative report and the linked Excel model, with ten-year pro forma, sensitivity analysis at ±5, 10, and 15 percent, interest-rate stress from +0.5 to +3.0 percent, and ratio analysis benchmarked against RMA and IBISWorld data.
SBA engagements are prepared to SOP 50 10 8, including its debt-service-coverage minimums of 1.15x operating and 1.00x global. USDA engagements follow RD Staff Instruction 5001 across the Business & Industry, Community Facilities, REAP, and Value-Added Producer Grant programs. Conventional engagements are built to the lender's stated coverage standard, typically 1.20x. Travel centers are financed through SBA 504 for owner-operators, USDA B&I where rural interchange economics qualify, and conventional structures for multi-site operators; the study carries the coverage and collateral analysis each requires.
Representative engagements include a $48,571,365 travel center engagement and tribal travel-center component financing in Nevada at $3,969,648. Independence is non-negotiable: determinations follow the evidence and are not revised under pressure, and studies are built to pass lender, agency, and third-party review without exception items.
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