After centuries of residential use, the buildings were bought by the Ubica mattress company in 1913 and used until a devastating fire in 1989.

They organised various activities such as the PUSCII hacklab, infoshop Schism, art collective De Wilde Ganzen, freeshop Tranendaal, the Black Lentil cafe, cargo bike hire and a venue for concerts and art exhibitions.

[8] Vloet sold Ubica in 2012 to property developer Willem Klaassen, who announced his intention to make a hotel in the building.

[11][12] The squatters had thrown paintbombs at the neighbouring city hall and set fire to tyres in the Ganzenmarkt.

[14] At first, Wim Vloet continued to say that he considered Willem Klaassen's offer to buy the building as just a bid and he was not minded to sell the property (as the squatters had warned).

[17] The restaurant pledged to keep Ubica's historic features whilst providing places for 120 paying customers.