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Certified Development Company · SBA 504

Worcester Business Development Corporation

Worcester, MA · 99 504 loans since 2010, 40 in the last five years · active in 3 states.

Loans, last 5 yrs
40
Typical project
$988k
total cost, estimated
Typical CDC loan
$402k
the SBA second
Typical term
25 yr
Default rate
0.00%
all 504 0.84%

What they finance

last 5 years
Full-Service Restaurants
8%
Offices of Mental Health Practitioners (except Physicians)
8%
Plumbing, Heating, and Air-Conditioning Contractors
5%
All Other Specialty Trade Contractors
5%
All Other Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services
5%
Everything else
70%

Project sizes

bank first + CDC second
Under $500k
12%
$500k – $1M
40%
$1M – $2.5M
32%
$2.5M – $5M
12%
Over $5M
2%

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
Webster Five Cents Savings Bank13
bankHometown7
Cornerstone Bank5
Avidia Bank2
Fidelity Co-Operative Bank2
UniBank for Savings2

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

Not enough history yet to build a triangle.

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 39 States MA (38), NY (1), NH (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.