Eldridge began to build another hotel. It finished in 1866 under George W. Deitzler. This building was updated in 1925; the new version stayed until the mid-to-late 1960s, when it closed due to competition with motels. The building became an apartment complex on July 1, 1970. People in Lawrence wanted to see the Eldridge re-open as a hotel again in the 1980s. A group of investors got $1 million, and the city of Lawrence also gave $2 million to make this happen. In the late 1980s, the building became a hotel again. In 2004, the hotel was purchased by a new group of investors. They changed it back "to its original 1925 grandeur (the style of the hotel)." The hotel opened in 2005.