The minister of culture announced a plan Monday night to build a new Casa Presidencial just east of Parque Nacional.

The plan came from a commission and will be integrated with an overall plan for the redevelopment of San José.

If adopted, the plan will leave the Centro Nacional de la Cultura as the headquarters of the Ministerio de Cultura, Juventud y Deportes and spare its galleries and theaters.  President Óscar Arias Sánchez said he would like to move the seat of the executive branch from the current location in Zapote to the downtown.

The commission asked in its report that the Proyecto de Planificación Regional y Urbana del Gran Área Metropolitana expropriate the city block east of Parque Nacional. There might be some problems.

Christiane Soto Harrison, who operates the Hotel la Casa del Parque in the former Zeledón Mansion on the northwest corner of the block, said the structure has been designated an historic building.  There also is a theater on the southeast corner as well as several commercial buildings and other homes.

The block is between avenidas 1 and 3 and between calles 19 and 21. The section is called El Carmen.

The commission also said that three ministries that have day-to-day contact with the president should be located in new structures north of Parque Nacional on vacant property that is near the Estación al Atlántico rail terminal.

The idea is to construct a Parque de los Cuatro Poderes. The Tribunal Supremo de Elecciones already is to the west of Parque Nacional. The culture ministry is to the northwest. The Asamblea Legislativa is south of the park.

There was no discussion of budget in the commission report that was released by  María Elena Carballo, the culture minister, about 6 p.m. The executive branch is seeking

X marks the spot designated for a new Casa Presidencial.

new taxes from the legislature and says the country is broke. The previous legislature itself said it needed new quarters because of the disrepair of existing buildings, but the Contraloria General de la República rejected the idea.

The urban development program itself is being supported by a grant of some 11 million euros ($14 million) from the European Union and the equivalent of  7.5 million euros ($9.6 million) from the Costa Rican government.

Eduardo Brenes, who is directing the urban development was credited with creating the concept of the park of the four powers. The ministries that would be located to the north of the park are the Ministerio de la Presidencia, the Ministerio de Planificación, and the Ministerio de Hacienda, the budget and tax-collecting ministry.

The proposal for the president to take over the culture ministry as his offices was controversial and generated protests and demonstrations from those connected with the arts. To solve the controversy, the commission was formed.

The proposal may not be of benefit to Arias. The culture minister said the project might take four years. A contest for design was suggested for architects associated with the Colegio de Arquitectos de Costa Rica.

There has been no comment from Casa Presidencial. Ms. Soto said she had not been contacted about the project, but she said she thought in principle the idea was a good one as long as her family is properly reimbursed for the money they have put into the hotel.