That looks amazing, thanks for sharing.
No one took it on because the asshole that owned the property wouldn't sell it. I know Marco Garcia of Curra's took a run at it, among others. I did the same back when I lived on the east side (I'm sure I told this story already on the old site). I tracked down the owner just to inquire and was quoted a price of $2m. I was a little stunned because it was on TCAD for $200K at the time.
My revenge was to contact the county tax assessor and inquire why commercial property was being taxed at $200K when the owner thought it was worth 10x but they responded that they only re-evaluate values at the owner's request.
Anyway, my vision was to go real low cost build-out (except for reclaimed wood floors, I wanted them to have that awesome pier and beam knock when you walked), no AC, no food, just cold beer sold by the bottle, TV's and floor fans (you'd sweat by design), kind of a C Hunt's or Rabbits but more enclosed (bear in mind this was 10+ years ago when most of that 6th street stretch of bars was very working class). $1 off beers if you showed a 78702 DL's address.