The Timber Inn, a fixture on U.S. Highway 101 in Coos Bay for more than 50 years, closed its doors Tuesday.

“We’re broke,” said Donis Frare, who co-owns the motel and restaurant with her husband, Leo. Frare said this morning that her husband is in the hospital and she did not wish to discuss the closure of the Timber Inn.

“Right now, I’m not looking beyond getting my husband well,” she said in a phone conversation.

Frank Kinsey, the former maintenance supervisor at the hotel, said employees were informed of the decision at 10 a.m. New Year’s Day.

“The owners got us all together and said, ‘We are closing because we are broke,’” he said.

An employee at the inn for the past four years, Kinsey said the announcement was a complete surprise. He noted that renovations had recently been completed to the upstairs lounge to make it more like a night club instead of a sports bar.

“We weren’t making cuts. We were going in the opposite direction,” he said.

The Frares purchased The Timber Inn in 2003 after moving to the area from Chehalis, Wash. They purchased the building from Gordon and Elaine Joelson, who ran the Timber Inn from 1981 to 2003. The motel and restaurant recently hosted 50th-anniversary celebrations in 2006, with events featuring 1950s themes, including $1 hamburgers and 60-cent pancakes.

The Timber Inn had about 32 employees according to their business license with the city of Coos Bay. Although improvements were made to the motel, Kinsey could understand why the motel closed.

“We knew that we were struggling because business has been falling off over the past year,” Kinsey said.

Kinsey said guests with reservations were being contacted to arrange alternative arrangements in the area.

Joseph Monahan, general manager of the Red Lion Hotel, said he was sad to learn that the Timber Inn was closing.

Monahan attended the Coos Bay City Council meeting when several hoteliers protested an increase to the transient room tax. He noted that Leo Frare was in attendance, but the Timber Inn owner had been less vocal due to health problems.

A hospital spokeswoman at Bay Area Hospital said Leo Frare was in fair condition this morning.

Both Monahan and Kinsey expressed hope that someone else would step forward and take over operation of the facility.

“The last thing we need in this town is another shuttered building,” Monahan said.