Atlanta’s Parking Problem Is Eating Restaurants Alive
Atlanta’s parking fees are too damn high. Is that why great local restaurants are shutting down and many are moving to the ’burbs?
Typically, when arguably great restaurants close, there’s a collective gasp of surprise. Yet when Eater broke the news in February of a sudden rash of restaurant closures on Atlanta’s West Midtown, the ensuing response was shocking... in that most Atlantans weren’t shocked.
In comment after comment on Instagram, one word unfailingly came up: parking.
The rising cost of parking in this notoriously car-dependent city has become an increasingly sore point, especially when rideshares experienced a median 7.5 percent jump in cost in 2024, according to a report by Gridwise, Inc.
National parking reservationist SpotHero reports the average cost in Atlanta’s participating facilities starts at $15 — this is on par with Miami and only $5 less than New York City’s weekend rates, and more than Los Angeles and Chicago for weekends and events.
Meanwhile, this is in addition to the more than 2,400 parking meters the City of Atlanta has installed to collect fees until as late as 10 p.m., per the 2009 ParkAtlanta proposal; these meters were taken over by ATLPlus in 2017.
And with the city’s rapid growth, parking costs that seemed nominal have become cost-prohibitive. While some free parking remains in parts of the city, confusing or missing signage, private lots, broken meters, parking scams, and varying rules make it a gamble just to dine out. As disparate neighborhoods are revitalized and commercial deserts are rapidly turned into trendy new live/work/play developments, like the Works and Abrams Fixtures, there are no concrete plans for expanding public transit. The lack of affordable parking options, as the comments on Instagram made overwhelmingly clear, has would-be diners — and restaurants — in a chokehold.
Who are the players?
Consumer choice feels like an illusion; multitudes of brands quietly roll up or feed into supercorps. Parking in Atlanta is no different, as ATLPlus is also Mobile +, which syncs Parkmobile, Pay By Phone, Flowbird, Passport, and SpotAngels. In turn, Mobile + is part of SP Plus (SP+) Corporation, which manages parking for over 100 major cities and was acquired by Metropolis Technologies, Inc. for $1.8 billion, turning the AI-assisted company into the largest parking network and operator in the U.S.
In other words, public parking is big business in Atlanta.
...
atlanta.eater.com
