A “dead” building will be resurrected as Yardi Systems plans to turn the former Paseo Nuevo Macy’s into its new downtown Santa Barbara headquarters.

During a conceptual review on Wednesday, commissioners with the Santa Barbara Historic Landmarks Commission said the redeveloped designs were an improvement over the current building.

“I think it is an immensely supportable project,” Commissioner Robert Ooley said. “What a great use of a dead building.”

The redevelopment of the 141,178-square-foot, three-story building would include exterior and interior accessibility and circulation improvements, facade and roof improvements, a new rooftop deck area and a reconfiguration of the interior floor area.

Project architect Brian Cearnal with Cearnal Collective said the project would be a “reinvention” of the building’s “spirit.” He said the design is mostly focused on adding light into the building.

As for the three peacock tile murals, Cearnal said they have been in touch with the Museum of Contemporary Art to preserve and “somehow” relocate the murals.

“We don’t know what that is, but we’re going to make sure that that happens,” Cearnal said.

Cearnal said most of the current openings into the building on the second and third floors are fake. Those would be replaced by large French door openings and shallow balconies.

As for the tower, developers plan to add an opening at the base of the tower onto State Street and a window between an open stairwell going between the second and third floors, as well as new windows and detailing up top.

On the Ortega Street side, there would be a redesigned doorway, new windows and a balcony.

In general, the commission found that the changes would improve the current state of the building.

“This is a significant improvement in moving the design towards what’s more fitting for the location,” Commissioner Keith Butler said. “It seems like a much closer pull into what we think of as our Spanish colonial style.”

Kevin Yardi, the company’s senior vice president, said the first floor would have a mixed-use concept, with retail on the State Street frontage and coming into Paseo Nuevo.

That would “invite foot traffic into Paseo,” Yardi said.

There also would be a conference and event space that the company would use for its own conferences and allow nonprofit organizations to use at reduced rates or free of charge, Yardi said.

The move to downtown would be from the company’s current headquarters at 430 S. Fairview Ave. in Goleta, but Yardi made it clear that the company isn’t abandoning its Goleta site.

He said there is still a “very bright future” for the Goleta campus.

“We’re sensitive to this notion of potentially helping to solve a problem in downtown Santa Barbara, but creating a problem in Goleta,” he said. “We’re excited about that campus — there’s likely housing there in the future — and we’re really excited about the future prospect of our old Goleta campus.”

During Wednesday’s hearing, the commission focused on the building design and was largely very positive about the plans, but commissioners did offer minor suggestions.

“It’s an immense improvement, just beyond belief,” Commissioner Ed Lenvik said. “I don’t know how we could have not seen the defects in the original design that came before us.”

He did ask for changes to the two-story window element at the Ortega Street entrance. He said he preferred not to have a large window in the middle of the tower and to just keep it a blank wall.

“To me, it really destroys a lot of the integrity of the tower,” Lenvik said.

Commissioner Cass Ensberg suggested adding a little more “quirkiness” to the building, more color and variety in the window sizes.

“Just something to make it a little bit more playful. It feels very formal,” Ensberg said.

She also recommended studying the tower more, stating that she didn’t like the added plaster detailing at the top and would prefer it to stay the same.

Cearnal said the current design of the tower has bugged him for years, but he indicated he would look into other options.

The project is expected return to the commission for additional review at a later date.