A controversial proposal to redevelop the former Macy’s building at Paseo Nuevo into housing has been scrapped, and Yardi Systems is now negotiating to relocate about 600 employees from its Goleta office into the State Street property.
Yardi approached the city and the mall’s leaseholder, Alliance Bernstein, after the earlier housing plan fell apart, reports the Santa Barbara News-Press.
That proposal called for demolishing the Macy’s building to construct 209 market-rate apartments and 24 affordable units. That deal faltered amid concerns over a proposed public contribution valued at $32 million to $39 million—conveying the land beneath the mall and a portion of property tax revenue—as well as the need for a long-term lease. The council voted against the deal earlier this year, prompting Alliance Bernstein to walk away.
In the wake of that decision, Yardi Systems approached the city, Alliance Bernstein and mall stakeholders about moving office workers downtown, and negotiations are ongoing.
Some housing remains under consideration elsewhere at the mall: Shopoff has proposed 80 to 112 units at the former Nordstrom site, with 10% affordable.
Paseo Nuevo Mall was subsidized during the city’s 1980s redevelopment push and opened in 1990, but has struggled financially. The Macy’s building closed in 2017 and has yet to house new tenants or be repurposed.
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Fantastic move by Yardi Systems to take over the old Macy’s building. Anant Yardi is “good people” and a world-class down-to-earth human being. I put the Yardi family up there with the Lopker’s (QAD) as having done most for their employees and giving back to the people of Santa Barbara/Goleta/Carp/Summerland/Etc. We are so fortunate to have such a successful homegrown company as Yardi Systems.
BEES – I agree Yardi is a great local company. However, it’s pretty upsetting that this giant vacant building was not used for much needed affordable housing. This is the problem. We don’t need to keep building NEW units in our open spaces of Goleta. We should be using all the many vacant buildings in SB for actually affordable housing. It’s a shame the City failed here.
I don’t think you understand what is happening with Yardi’s corporate move. Yardi plans to build something like 450 units on their S. Fairview property (previous home to SB Bank & Trust and the US Post Office). 450 new units on an existing commercial site will be of great benefit to the housing needs in the City of Goleta, So, No Open Spaces Were Harmed In This Corporate Move. I hope Goleta limits that project to three-story structures and not four (possibly there are airport restrictions in place to prevent this). Downtown Santa Barbara businesses, which are hurting badly these days, will greatly benefit from the addition of Yardi’s presence. That includes restaurants, bars, hotels, basically a HUGE boon to every business downtown. I know a dozen or so folks who work(ed) for Yardi, and they said the company is quite generou$ with their employee$. That means employees can afford to eat/drink, shop, watch movies, etc….basically, throwing down dough because they can afford to do that. It’s a win for Santa Barbara and a win for Goleta.
I know you don’t believe in providing citations to support your claims, but maybe just this once? All I can find is this article from 2023 saying that Yardi “wants to build housing on a portion of its Goleta property”, but no indication that this is still in the works.
https://www.noozhawk.com/yardi-systems-wants-to-build-374-apartments-goleta-headquarters/
P.S. In no way do I deny or question that Yardi is a great company … thank both you and sac for reiterating that.
The number of units I mentioned is off by a 100, but still a substantial number. Maybe the project was killed or is dead, but a brief search rendered this article from a few years ago:
https://www.noozhawk.com/yardi-systems-wants-to-build-374-apartments-goleta-headquarters/
BEES – nothing in the article would cause me to be aware that Yardi is planning to turn their former HQ into affordable housing units.
If that is the case, great! Like I said, they’re a great company.