The Santa Monica City Council voted unanimously Tuesday night for the city to enter into negotiations with Macerich Co. to tear down and rebuild its struggling Santa Monica Place mall.

While council members said they would never allow Macerich to build three 21-story residential towers proposed on the site, they instructed staff to organize public meetings for company officials to solicit community input.

The council voted 6-0, with Councilman Robert Holbrook absent, to allow city staff to begin negotiating with Macerich. The council asked that Macerich return in six months with revised plans, which would then work their way through the city’s planning process, said Councilman Herb Katz.

“Santa Monica Place needs upgrading very badly, as does our (Third Street) Promenade,” he said. “If we don’t start cleaning up both of them, they are going to get tired real fast.”

Macerich has proposed rebuilding the 560,000-square-foot mall, while extending the Third Street Promenade through its center to connect Broadway with Colorado Avenue.

In addition, the plans call for 450 apartments and condominiums in three 21-story towers, an 86,000-square-foot office building and three underground levels of parking containing more than 2,000 spaces.

Those plans are likely to change from their current form as Macerich begins meeting with community groups, said Randy Brant, a Macerich senior vice president in charge of the mall’s redevelopment.

“Some of what you get from the community you can’t use because it’s impractical,” Brant said. “But then there are great ideas that come out of meetings like these that you never would have thought of on your own.”

Katz said he was surprised by the unanimous vote to move forward with Macerich; he thought there would be a narrow approval.

“This is a real mandate,” he said. “It means we are all on the same page and we all want to see something better happen there.”