Workers finished cleaning and polishing the restored Eldridge Hotel, 701 Massachusetts St., yesterday.

After a six-month hiatus, the hotel will reopen at 4 p.m. today with a ribbon-cutting ceremony, said W. Randy English, general manager. The grand opening will be held next fall in about September or October, he said.

The hotel has stood at that spot downtown since 1855, when it was the Free State Hotel. The hotel was burned a year later by pro-slavery forces, but the hotel was rebuilt by Colonel Shalor Eldridge, where the hotel gets its name. The hotel was burned in 1863 by William Quantrill, and, once again, was rebuilt by Eldridge, according to the hotel’s Web site, www.eldridgehotel.com.

The Eldridge stood as Lawrence’s best hotel until 1925, when it began to deteriorate. Local business owners renovated the hotel, which lasted until the late 1960s. With falling revenues and the rise of the motel, the Eldridge closed its doors as a hotel in 1970. The hotel became apartments until 1985, when it was restored to a hotel by a developer.

Management changed hands a few times, and the hotel was purchased in 2004 by investors led by Mitchell and Susan Chaney and Bobby Douglass.

The new owners closed the hotel and restaurant in January 2004, and will reopen both again this week.

Opening an almost brand new restaurant, bar and hotel all at the same time can be stressful.

“It’s a lot like anything else, can’t do anything ahead of time,” said Bobby Douglass, part-owner of the hotel and former KU football quarterback. “It would be a little easier if the hotel didn’t open also.”

The new restaurant and renovations will bring in younger students, said Katie Chaney, Brownsville, Texas, junior, and daughter of two Eldridge owners.

“I think the renovations are great,” Chaney said. “It added a lot of energy to the place.”

Although both the 48-room hotel and the restaurant are opening this week, the restaurant will open a day later. The restaurant prepared practice meals for some of the staff yesterday, and would do so again today, Douglass said.

The break was needed to create a seamless transition, Douglass said.

Customers and students will be able to have many different dining options, ranging from the simple to more elaborate meals.

“It’s just good American food,” Chaney said. “All of the food is reasonably priced.”

When the restaurant does open it will offer about 50 dishes, which include appetizers, salads and entrees. Meals can range from a hamburger to a parmesan-crusted filet. The restaurant has an all-new interior.

Fifty employees, many students included, have been hired to staff the restaurant, now called Ten, and the bar, still called the Jayhawker. The restaurant can seat about 140, and the bar can seat about 80, Douglass said. Renovations expanded the bar by about 30 percent, he said.

All room service for the hotel will go through the restaurant, using mostly the same menu as the restaurant. Renovations on the hotel allowed the new owners to refurbish each room with new carpets, furniture and paintings, English said. Although the suites have changed, the renovators did not change the building structurally, he said.

Hotel management hired 25 full-time employees to staff the hotel. Students are also employed at the hotel, mainly at the reception desk, English said.

With the staff of the restaurant and hotel ready, the Eldridge prepares for a busy first few weeks, English said.

The hotel’s management expects today and tomorrow to be a little slow, but during the weekend the hotel will host a wedding reception and the following week is graduation.