KANSAS CITY, KAN. ? An auction to find a new owner for downtown Lawrence’s historic Eldridge Hotel will be conducted on Oct. 12, a bankruptcy judge ruled here today.

The auction will begin at 10 a.m. on Oct 12 at the Kansas City, Kan., Federal Courthouse. The auction will be open to anyone who has the financial resources needed to meet the expected $1.9 million minimum bid and who has interest in continuing to operate the building as a hotel, Judge Robert Berger ruled at a hearing this morning.

The Eldridge Hotel, whose history dates back to the state’s Bleeding Kansas era, filed for bankruptcy protection in December and was ordered earlier this year to be sold at auction to pay off debts of more than $2 million.

At the hearing, another likely bidder for the hotel stepped forward. Lawrence attorney Chris Masoner told the court that he is representing a group of Lawrence investors led by developer Doug Compton that is interested in buying the hotel at Seventh and Massachusetts streets. The group also includes Lawrence developer Bill Newsome and Stephen Craig, president of Lawrence-based Linquist & Craig Hotels and Resorts.

A group led by former Kansas University football great Bobby Douglass also has said it will be a bidder for the property, along with a group that includes a pair of Chicago-area KU graduates and an owner of Lawrence’s Waxman Candles.