The reason there was a "low turnout" was because most people realised that your initial sensationalist article was based solely on a WeChat comment from the captain of a rugby team.
The source was the manager of The Den, Lisa Zhuang.
At the time the story ran, she and the rest of the people behind the venue did indeed think they would be forced to close -- so much so that they told their regular customers this.
It was only the following day that a deal was worked out.
You can be sure this is not the last of the story.
There is more to the story that we don't know, but all indications are that there is a power struggle going on over that parcel of land or the property that is on it.
The area is controlled not by private landlords, but by the military police.
And any businessperson who is doing business with government agencies knows that it doesn't work the way "normal" private businesses work -- in a public-private deal, usually things exist only because the private business has a government patron in a high-power position that protects them.
But should their contact retire or be pushed aside in an internal power struggle, then the protection ceases to exist, and a venue's fate can turn on a dime unless a new patron is found.
I don't know for sure if this is the case with The Den, but I suspect it is. This is exceedingly common in Beijing.