Can't change lot type of empty, unowned residential rental

I had very similar issues to the OP last week, and even when I completely bulldozed the (empty) Rental Residential lot and changed the lot type to a Bar, it would show up as a Bar lot on the World Map, but then show an empty "Tenants" list. I also had tried making some modifications to two Rental Residential lots in San Sequoia at around the same time, and managed to break not just those lots, but apparently the world itself, since the next time I tried to load San Sequoia, I only got a white screen. Also, any attempt to change a lot type seems to trigger issues that at best cause the game to freeze, and at worse end up breaking the lot. I thought at first it might be a mod conflict (Better Exceptions was giving me a UI Exception report every time I attempted to make changes to a lot type, especially with changing to or from a Rental Residential), but tonight I tested with all mods taken out, my localthumbcache file deleted, and in a test save, and the game still froze up when I downloaded a build from My Library to a residential lot and then attempted to change the lot type. I have had to start three new "Save As" saves from an older (pre-For Rent) save file in the past week because the original save I was playing in became unusable. The only evening this week when I had no issues at all was when I played in a save where I did no lot changes at all aside from very minor redecorating of an existing home. I think the issues may have started after the 12/14 patch, though it's possible whatever is causing them was introduced sooner. I downloaded For Rent the day the pack became available, but because I was still updating my mods folder, I didn't start playing much with the new pack until around the time the 12/14 patch came out. Prior to the pack coming out, I never had a problem with lots breaking or not allowing me to change venue types.