The owners of the Crowne Plaza Pontchartrain Detroit are considering a second tower on its downtown Detroit site, the Detroit Metro Convention & Visitors Bureau has confirmed.

Construction of a second tower — which experts say would cost in the $30 million-to-$35 million range — could bring the hotel up to 800-850 rooms. That would make it the state's second largest, behind the riverfront

And it could help the city gain an edge in attracting large conferences.

"One of our challenges is we don't have as many hotel rooms that are an easy walk to the convention center like many of our competitors do," said Michael O'Callaghan, executive vice president and COO of the convention bureau.

A second tower at the Pontchartrain would allow the RenCen Marriott and other hotels downtown to "play well together as a group in bringing these conventions to the city," he said.

"(We) need to create some more inventory of rooms if we're going to be successful in bringing large meetings to Detroit."

In the near term, the addition of that many rooms could decrease occupancy and average daily rate numbers for hotels downtown, said Ron Wilson, CEO of, a hotel owner, developer and operator.

"But long term, it's a benefit to have that number of rooms," Wilson said.

The owner —, a Mexican and European investors group led by Mexican investor Gabriel Ruiz Huerta — has been discussing a second tower for about the past six months, O'Callaghan said.

Although the idea isn't new — it was part of the hotel's original plan when it opened in 1965 and has been talked about from time to time over the years — "this is a recent plan," O'Callaghan said. "This current group of owners recognizes there's some good potential."

"And from what I've seen, (the) second tower is even bigger than the current one."