The hotel was publicly owned, so some smaller nearby hotels were torn down to eliminate competition. The building became a focus of civic pride, hosting many major events even as the city declined due to suburbanization, GE began moving work elsewhere and ALCO went into decline along with its industry. In addition to the many local functions it hosted, it became a popular lunch spot for workers at the nearby GE plant. Among its many notable guests over the years were then-governor Franklin D. Roosevelt and his wife Eleanor, John Philip Sousa, Clement Attlee and Robert F. Kennedy. In 1954 the additions were built to accommodate the increasing demands of business travelers. Every one of the new rooms had air conditioning and a private bath. These rooms rented well, but increasingly guests preferred them to the old section of the hotel, with an overall negative effect on the hotel's occupancy rate. It declared bankruptcy in 1968. Schenectady County bought the building at the ensuing public auction for $710,000 ($ in contemporary dollars), and converted it for its current use by the college. The college's board of trustees renamed it after Charles Elston, the longtime chairman of the county's Board of Representatives.