The Shinola Hotel project, announced last week, is the latest in a string of hotel projects planned or underway in downtown Detroit.

While increasing investment in the city is good news, it raises the question: Can Detroit support the number of hotel projects planned and under consideration for the central business district?

Experts say yes. There's demand for 800 to 1,000 more rooms downtown in the next two to three years.

Six projects in development could bring roughly 970 more rooms to the downtown market over the next few years, well within that range.

But if the Crowne Plaza Downtown Detroit Riverfront moves forward with construction of a second tower, as it's considering, that could mean another 400 or more rooms.

And that would exceed the tipping point of demand experts say Detroit can absorb in the next few years.

Many of the announced hotels projects are just plans at this point, said hospitality expert Ron Wilson, CEO of Troy-based Hotel Investment Services Inc.

"But if all of these projects were to happen, I would be cautious about adding any more until that supply is absorbed."

With the increasing population, activity and corporate presence downtown, there is undoubtedly support for additional rooms, said Mike O'Callaghan, COO and executive vice president of the Detroit Metro Convention & Visitors Bureau.

Detroit's downtown hotel occupancy and average daily rates are up this year, bucking the declines cities including Chicago, Pittsburgh and Cleveland have seen this year, O'Callaghan said.

Year to date through July, average daily occupancy for the 5,000 hotel rooms in Detroit's central business district was 67.6 percent, up from 66.3 percent for the same period of 2015, he said, referencing data from STR.

The average daily rate for the same period increased to $154, up from $148 for the first seven months last year and $141 for the period in 2014.

The occupancy number so far this year is about 1.5 percentage points better than the counties of Wayne, Oakland and Macomb, O'Callaghan said.

In the years before Detroit's comeback, suburban hotels would fill up first. But now, the Detroit hotels are, and the overflow is going to the suburbs.

Ideally, the downtown market could use more rooms, including a large block of about 400 from a full-service convention hotel, he said.

"The additional second tower at the Crowne Plaza would suit us nicely."

Right now, during high-demand periods, the people in town for a conference or other event who can't get a downtown room must be bused to the suburbs, O'Callaghan said.

But many planners won't go for that., he said "They don't want their attendees on buses."

Besides the increased demand from conventions, more people are living downtown. And their relatives need someplace to stay when they come to visit, O'Callaghan said.

The companies that have moved into the city's core are also increasing demand for hotel rooms as their out-of-town employees come in for meetings.

But is the demand sustainable?

"I think so," O'Callaghan said. "We know leisure visits are up and corporate visitors feel more comfortable about coming here," he said. "And we're getting more interest from groups and conventions than we have in decades."