text: Three months later, in April 1957, House and Senate subcommittees overseeing the District of Columbia voted to approve the Foggy Bottom site as well. The Senate followed suit in May, but the House refused to appropriate money to purchase the land. Eight months later, with the Auditorium Commission defunct, a number of civic leaders and members of Congress proposed that the cultural center be built on a site on the National Mall south of the National Gallery of Art (where the National Air and Space Museum is now). This proposal proved so unwelcome that Congress shifted again and chose the Foggy Bottom site for the cultural center. President Eisenhower signed legislation creating the National Cultural Center (later renamed the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts) on September 2, 1958.
  Plans move forward
  With the cultural center set for Foggy Bottom, plans began moving ahead again on L'Enfant Plaza. In November 1958, the RLA and Zeckendorff began negotiating over the price of land and the composition of the buildings to be built at L'Enfant Plaza. In December 1959, Zeckendorf won approval to build a 1,000-room hotel and five privately owned office buildings on L'Enfant Plaza. The Redevelopment Land Agency also approved the condemnation and razing of 14 city blocks for construction of the plaza, hotel, and office buildings. Construction was scheduled to begin on January 1, 1961, but was delayed due to unresolved design issues with L'Enfant Promenade, the short time-frame to prepare detailed construction plans, and because Congress had not granted air rights above 9th Street SW to the developers.
  Delays
  For four years, construction of L'Enfant Plaza and the hotel were delayed. Zeckendorf agreed to build the promenade, plaza, and all surrounding buildings as a single project in April 1961 and pay $20 per  for the land. These pledges led the Redevelopment Land Agency to award the 14-block area to Zeckendorf in October 1961 for $7 million.