Another downtown Royal Oak restaurant closes, citing parking issues

The owner of downtown Royal Oak's Beirut Palace is closing his restaurant over what he says is a parking space shortage impacting his business.

Hussein Ahmad, who sold the restaurant and its assets, told Crain's his business dropped between 25 and 50 percent since the city took about 230 parking spaces offline in July.

Beirut Palace joins Andiamo in blaming the parking situation for its closure, and several other downtown restaurants have also shuttered in recent months.
However, new restaurants keep replacing those. Ahmad, who also operates Beirut Palace locations in Warren and Sterling Heights, said he sold the business to buyers who plan to keep a Middle Eastern restaurant in the space.

Are the closures the result of fewer parking spaces, or is it because the center of metro Detroit's dining universe is shifting to downtown Detroit? Or is it a sign that there are more restaurants than metro Detroiters can support? Perhaps it could be a combination of all three.

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