Groundbreakings and anchor signings are back in the news. NewQuest just started an 87,502 square foot expansion at The Grand at Aliana in Richmond, Texas, preleased to Dick’s Sporting Goods and Havertys. Englefield is studying high-growth communities for its next round of stores. Vestar secured a 100,000 square foot H Mart flagship at Pacific Commons, a 1.1 million square foot power center in Fremont, California. The common thread is not the ribbon cutting, it is the decision quality that precedes it: whether a site is bankable and whether the sales outlook is defensible.

This is where a feasibility study and sales projection must shift from narrative to numbers. C-Site was built for that shift, converting location questions into quantitative answers that credit committees can weigh. Below is how we structure a bankable feasibility study and five-year sales outlook, and the specific metrics we bring to the table.

What makes a feasibility study bankable

1) Define the trade area and quantify demand

C-Site establishes a primary trade area using observed behavior, not just circles on a map. For convenience-oriented formats, our methodology shows that 70 to 80 percent of customers are drawn from a 2 to 3 mile radius, and that at least 2,500 residents per store within that radius are needed to sustain strong traffic and sales. These thresholds, documented in Ticon’s feasibility methodology (2024), are paired with a demographic profile that includes income, age and household composition to estimate customer counts and purchasing power.

2) Measure interceptable traffic, not just volume

Directional AADT is quantified for every approach road and, where relevant, adjacent highways and offramps. C-Site Advanced breaks volumes and speeds into 15-minute intervals, weekdays and weekends, with seasonal fluctuations by month and daily patterns by day of week. This matters because stop behavior depends on both flow and speed. We translate these observations into a turn-in percentage using our interception rate framework that incorporates speed distributions, access and visibility, lane count, driveway placement, and corner geometry. The objective is to move from “cars per day” to “cars that can and will stop.”

3) Separate local and transit traffic

Not all vehicles are equal. C-Site differentiates local versus transit behavior at the exact address, a critical step when evaluating formats that depend on repeat neighborhood visits versus one-time passersby. The local share informs loyalty potential and the likely contribution of programs or amenities that increase re-patronage.

4) Put competition in the same frame

We calculate a Level of Service rating that reflects competitor count and quality within 1 and 3 miles, identify hypermarket threats, and analyze shared traffic streams. The shared stream analysis considers distance between sites, lane counts, road alignment, intersections and traffic-generating developments between locations, consistent with the competition framework documented in Ticon’s feasibility methodology.

5) Convert traffic into category sales

Sales projection is presented by category with five-year projections. For fuel, price sensitivity is explicitly modeled since 59 percent of consumers choose where to buy fuel primarily on price, as reported by NACS. For in-store and car wash, the model blends interceptable traffic, category penetration, basket tendencies and daypart patterns. Intraday capacity checks at 15-minute resolution ensure that projected peaks are operationally feasible.

6) Validate with site-specific evidence

In Texas, for example, our Brookshire commercial site analysis documented a center 1.7 miles from I-10 and 8.6 miles from SH-99, with a trade area skewed to households earning above 150,000 dollars and underserved demand for QSR and coffee. The report included speed-volume charts for weekdays and weekends on each approach road. This is the level of specificity a lender expects: exact access to regional routes, observed driver behavior by time of day, and quantified unmet demand.

How this applies to today’s announcements

• Richmond, Texas: A power-center expansion anchored by Dick’s and Havertys raises the bar for outparcel and in-line tenants that rely on anchor-generated traffic. A bankable study here quantifies the anchor pull through directional AADT on each entrance, verifies weekend versus weekday peaks, and evaluates whether speeds at key drive aisles drop to stop-friendly levels during those peaks. It then estimates the uplift in intercept rate for adjacent pads and translates that into category sales, ranked against competing sites within 3 miles.
• High-growth communities under review by Englefield: The growth story must meet feasibility thresholds. Applying the 70 to 80 percent primary trade capture, we test whether the 2 to 3 mile radius already exceeds the 2,500 residents per store baseline, how fast it will grow, and how many competitors are on the same shared streams. We then present five-year sales, seasonality by month, and day-of-week patterns, paired with workforce and inventory implications so expansion does not outpace operations.
• Fremont’s H Mart flagship: A multi-level anchor with food hall and entertainment depends on extended dwell time and weekend peaks. C-Site’s 15-minute traffic and speed data clarify whether the existing power center’s low-speed clusters and access points can support those peaks without congestion spillback that suppresses turn-in rates for neighboring tenants. The feasibility package captures cross-shopping potential in the existing 1.1 million square foot tenant mix while quantifying the share of local versus regional visitors the flagship is likely to attract.

From projection to operations

Because C-Site tracks seasonality by month and day-of-week, with intraday profiles at 15-minute resolution, the same analysis that supports a loan package also supports operating plans. The feasibility study ...