The Eldridge Hotel, with a long history of reconstruction and renovations following long-ago fires, now is expanding operations into another downtown structure that suffered from more recent flames, smoke and water.

A former retail and office building at 201 W. Eighth St. – damaged by fire in October 2005 – is operating as Eldridge Extended, a satellite of the historic hotel that is in its second century of residential and hospitality operations one block away.

The painted-brick building on Eighth Street is finishing up a renovation that already has added new windows, granite steps, custom wooden doors and an interior with three first-floor meeting rooms that feature overhead video projection systems, long tables, a bar and leather lounge chairs.

Rynette Reiling-Minor, Oskaloosa, peers out a window in one of the newly renovated suites on the second floor of Eldridge Extended, 201 W. Eighth St. The building, which Reiling-Minor toured Tuesday, includes eight residential suites with kitchens, three meeting rooms and operates as a satellite of The Eldridge Hotel, 701 Mass. A public open house will be conducted May 10.

Upstairs are eight residential suites with kitchens, giving the place the ability to accommodate corporate events, wedding parties and extended stays without guests needing to leave downtown Lawrence.

The project allows the hotel to address its increasing demand for residential suites and “really high-end meeting rooms,” while addressing expansion plans without being limited to the hotel site itself, said Nancy Longhurst, the hotel’s general manager.

A public open house is scheduled for 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. May 10.

“We see this as part of our overall expansion plans,” Longhurst said. “We hope to expand the hotel more in the future, but this is part of the long-term plan.”

The Eldridge Extended project was handled by Thomas Fritzel, a member of the partnership that purchased the 48-room Eldridge in 2004 and embarked on an ambitious renovation plan. The main hotel building, at 701 Mass., includes its Crystal Ballroom, plus other meeting rooms to go along with Ten Restaurant and The Jayhawker bar.

Eldridge Extended operates at 201 W. Eighth St. The structure was renovated after an October 2005 fire.

The first hotel at the site, the Free State Hotel, opened in 1855 but was attacked and destroyed by fire a year later. Shalor Eldridge rebuilt the place, which stood until Quantrill and his pro-slavery raiders destroyed the building in 1863.

The next version of the Eldridge lasted until 1925, by which time it had dilapidated to the point that it was razed. The current building has been there since.