I placed an office building, but NPCs moved in
@Leyira Based on your thread title, I think you simply want a generic lot to which you can take your sims for the story you want to tell. If I'm correct, your building the lot as generic should have been fine.
NPC sims don't go to generic lots, let alone move into them. If I had to guess, I would guess that the lot you built on originally had a residential designation and you converted it to generic. If I'm correct, I think your game was hit with the bug talked about in this thread:
https://answers.ea.com/t5/Bug-Reports/FIXED-Lot-types-revert-to-Business-Incomplete-lots-on-map/m-p/7955381#M91931As you will read, the bug was fixed in the most recent patch. Crinrict indicates that all her affected lots automatically reverted to the correct lot type but your office lot may not have, if sims were living in it. I would suggest entering the lot in build mode and checking its designation. If it's showing residential, go back to the map view and evict the NPC sims. You can then go back into the lot via build and change the designation back to generic. With the bug fixed, the generic designation should now hold okay.
As for gathering the sims you want to interact together on the generic lot, I think I would create a club with only those sims as members. Choose the generic lot as your choice for where to hold the club meeting. If for some reason it's not shown as a choice for a meeting place, you can always have them gather at one of the homes and then travel together to the generic lot. No NPC sims should appear to interrupt what you want to accomplish.
The Bluffs lot in Windenburg is a generic lot and I redid it for use by a teen only club in my game. Because it's designated by the game as generic, the club members are the only sims I see while there.
