Yes, if possible he should try to spin it off. He might be thinking "nobody wants this" but usually there is someone who does. And they will usually be willing to pay a few hundred bucks for it. If they know how to market the site, they can usually make that back pretty easily. And the URL is worth something.

I know of 2 websites that the old owners got tired of the upkeep, and more or less gave to someone else. The new owner was really able to make it work much better. Sometimes it takes a fresh perspective.

Its disappointing...

Or maybe its just a botched server transfer, and after the DNS replicates it will be back.