SBADecoded
Home / CDCs / Dakota Business Finance

Certified Development Company · SBA 504

Dakota Business Finance

Sioux Falls, SD · 548 504 loans since 2010, 177 in the last five years · active in 7 states.

Loans, last 5 yrs
177
Typical project
$1.2M
total cost, estimated
Typical CDC loan
$458k
the SBA second
Typical term
25 yr
Default rate
0.04%
all 504 0.84%

What they finance

last 5 years
Hotels (except Casino Hotels) and Motels
10%
Full-Service Restaurants
4%
General Automotive Repair
4%
Snack and Nonalcoholic Beverage Bars
3%
Pet Care (except Veterinary) Services
3%
Everything else
75%

Project sizes

bank first + CDC second
Under $500k
19%
$500k – $1M
28%
$1M – $2.5M
35%
$2.5M – $5M
11%
Over $5M
7%

A 504 project is roughly half bank first mortgage, 45% CDC second and the rest your own money. This is the financed portion, not the whole project.

Banks they work with

first mortgage partners
Bank Deals together
First Dakota National Bank28
Plains Commerce Bank18
American Bank and Trust17
Central Bank10
CorTrust Bank National Association9
Bank Midwest9

A 504 needs two lenders. The CDC arranges the SBA portion, a bank writes the first mortgage. If a CDC has done dozens of deals with a particular bank, that pairing works — which is worth knowing before you go hunting for a first mortgage on your own.

Their loans, year by year

cumulative % of CDC dollars charged off
ApprovedYr 1Yr 2Yr 3Yr 4Yr 5Yr 6Yr 7Yr 8Yr 9Yr 10
20100.00.00.00.00.00.00.00.00.00.0
20110.00.00.00.00.00.00.00.00.00.0
20120.00.00.00.00.00.00.00.00.00.0
20130.00.00.00.00.00.00.00.00.00.0
20140.00.00.00.00.00.30.30.30.30.3
20150.00.00.00.00.00.00.023.223.223.2
20160.00.00.00.00.00.00.00.00.0·
20170.00.00.00.00.00.00.00.0··
20180.00.00.00.00.00.00.0···
20190.00.00.00.00.00.0····
20200.00.00.00.00.0·····
20210.00.00.00.0······
20220.00.00.0·······
20230.00.0········
20240.0·········
2025··········
0%
12%+▨ too recent to know

504 loans default far less often than 7(a) — across the whole programme, 0.84% of dollars against 2.11% for 7(a). Real estate collateral is the reason. Numbers this small move sharply on a handful of loans, so read a single cell with care.

Source SBA 504 FOIAReleased 2026-06-30 Loans judged 207 States SD (133), IA (27), MN (13), ND (1), NE (1), WI (1)

Is 504 right for you?

504 is for owner-occupied real estate and heavy equipment, and it fixes most of your rate for 25 years. The trade is two lenders, two closings and more paperwork than a 7(a).

Compare the two on your numbers → How the programme works →

Other CDCs to consider

Most CDCs lend across several states, so the nearest one is rarely your only option — and rates and service vary.