The commercial areas of the Inn of the 7th Mountain were closed and locked Monday as part of bankruptcy proceedings involving the inn?s former management company.

Security personnel taped a ?no trespassing? sign on the front door of the convention center and chained the door shut Monday morning. Josiah?s Restaurant also is closed, as is the ice rink.

The action followed a hearing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Portland on Friday at which Judge Trish M. Brown approved a request by bankruptcy trustee Michael Grassmueck for INNspired LLC to take over management of approximately 135 condominiums rented through the Inn?s front desk.

INNspired is a Eugene-based company owned by Douglas Cochrane with the financial backing of Pape Properties, which is a branch of Pape Group. INNspired owns about 30 condominiums at the inn and holds the note on the so-called ?core? facilities, which are the areas closed today.

INNspired has agreed to guarantee bookings from Monday through Jan. 7 for approximately 135 condominiums reserved through the inn?s former management company, Seventh Mountain Management, Inc. (SMMI), a group owned by some of the inn?s condominium owners.

SMMI, which bought the core facilities in the mid-1990s, in June filed for protection under Chapter 11 of the federal bankruptcy code, which allows it to continue operating while reorganizing its finances.

However, Grassmueck asked the court on Friday to replace SMMI as the Inn?s manager with INNspired because SMMI had accepted more than $110,000 in room deposits but now lacks sufficient funds to refund those deposits.

SMMI also managed the inn?s core facilities. Cochrane said last week that INNspired had no desire at the present time to operate the facilities, which have been losing money for some time. Because SMMI was removed as manager of the core facilities, and INNspired did not want to operate them, they were closed.

Gary Pape of Pape Properties said INNspired was working Monday morning to take over the Inn?s main reservation telephone lines so persons who have placed deposits on rooms will be able to rent those rooms through INNspired. No one was answering the Inn?s telephones this morning.

Pape said he didn?t know how long the core facilities will be closed. The next hearing in the bankruptcy proceedings is scheduled to take place in Portland on Jan. 4, when Grassmueck is expected to ask the judge to order the liquidation of the assets of SMMI and allow INNspired to foreclose on its note for the core facilities.

Jeff Nielson can be reached at 541-383-0350 or by sending an e-mail to Jeff Nielson.