It is located on Ashford Point Drive in southwest Houston. It is north of West Park Tollway, south of Westpark Drive, east of Eldridge Parkway, and west of Dairy Ashford. The building has no signs and the gate is locked. It looks vacant and very strange. I don't know if the photos do the building justice as far as the scale of the structure. This building could be the lair of one of James Bond's evil villians. No telling what massive device of mass destruction is hidden in that golden globe.

I'm doing some commercial real estate work in this area and am very curious about this building (from a personal standpoint - I have no desire to try and list it).



[This message has been edited by Old Main (edited 3/12/2008 11:32a).]

I think it used to be an Islamic mosque or something like that. I used to live nearby and saw this building alot.

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What building is this...?

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Riiiight, you just wanted to show off your 'vette huh?

What do you do with a vacant building like that?

Initially I guessed that it was a mosque, but my fellow broker from Dallas said it was too big.

I don't understand the stairs on the outside. It sort of looks like it could be converted to an observatory. Maybe some astronomy or science foundation could get a good deal on the building.

[This message has been edited by Old Main (edited 3/12/2008 10:31a).]

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I don't understand the stairs on the outside

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you probably walk up the stairs to get closer to Mecca and pray.

Al Queda, Houston chapter.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=S+Dairy+Ashford+St,+Houston,+Harris,+Texas,+United+States&sll=29.76046,-95.3698&sspn=0.872656,1.540833&ie=UTF8&cd=2&geocode=0,29.705980,-95.604450&ll=29.72063,-95.612069&spn=0.001705,0.003009&t=h&z=19&iwloc=addr

I always heard it was a muslim center, not a mosque per se. Doesn't really look like it up close though.

we get it, you own a vette

The Harris County Appraisal District says it is owned by "CHONG SHENG MWU GWUNG". Sounds like it is or used to be a Buddhist temple or something.

http://wikimapia.org/4093350/Chong_Hua_Sheng_MU_Holy_Palace

the fascinating (not really) time line of her deportation

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Kwai Fun Wong, a citizen of Hong Kong, first lawfully entered the United States in 1985 as a Tao minister. She later became the head of the Wu-Wei Tien Tao Association (hereinafter "Tien Tao" and, according to the belief of her religion, the "heavenly mandated" Matriarch of the Tao Heritage. Tien Tao is a religious organization dedicated to spreading the truth of Tao throughout the world. Followers of Tao believe that "Tao means the Truth, the Path, or the Way and that Tien Tao is the way to return [to] heaven by restoring the original nature."

7

In 1992, Wong's predecessor as leader of Tien Tao, Qian Ren, instructed Wong to apply for permanent residence in the United States so she would be able to pursue Tien Tao's religious mission. Wong filed two petitions with the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS)4 for permanent residence, in 1992 and 1994, and resided in the United States while the petitions were pending.5

8

When Qian Ren passed away on March 16, 1999, Wong became the head of Tien Tao. To fulfill her religious duties, including arranging the funerary services and meeting with Tao ministers in Hong Kong to plan Tien Tao's future, Wong had to accompany Qian Ren's body back to Hong Kong for burial.

9

Under 8 C.F.R. § 245.2(a)(4)(ii), an alien with a pending application for adjustment of status is considered to have abandoned her application if she leaves the country without first obtaining permission ("advance parole" from the INS.6 Prior to her departure for Hong Kong, Wong's immigration attorney attempted unsuccessfully to make arrangements with the INS to permit Wong to leave without advance parole.7 Eleven days after Qian Ren's death, Wong left for Hong Kong without having obtained advance parole or any special dispensation waiving the advance parole requirement.

10

Wong returned to the United States via San Francisco eighteen days later. Upon her arrival, INS officers paroled her into the country pending a deferred inspection in Portland on April 28.8

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Soon thereafter, Wong and Tien Tao filed another adjustment of status application under INA § 245(i) on Wong's behalf. Wong's attorney notified the Portland INS office of Wong's application and asked Defendant-Appellant Jack O'Brien, port director of that office, to contact him if he wished to meet with Wong in person. Wong did not appear for her deferred inspection on April 28, for reasons not explained in the complaint.

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The next day, April 29, Defendant-Appellant David V. Beebe, district director of the Portland INS office, revoked Wong's parole. Shortly afterward, O'Brien and Defendant-Appellant Douglas Glover, a supervisory inspections officer with the Portland office, issued a "Notice and Order of Expedited Removal" and a determination of inadmissibility. Wong did not receive this Notice until June 22, 1999, the day she was removed from the country.

13

In early June, Wong received a letter from Beebe requesting that Wong appear at the Portland INS office on June 17 to receive her employment authorization card. When Wong presented herself, she was seized by INS officers and handed a letter denying her application for adjustment of status, signed by Defendant-Appellant Jerry F. Garcia on behalf of Beebe. After questioning, Wong was placed in detention, where she remained for five days.

14

At the Multnomah County Detention Center, Wong was subjected to two strip searches, including an orifice search. Wong's requests for vegetarian meals were denied, "interfering with the practice of her faith." During detention Wong was not permitted access to a translator, information about her rights, information about how to contact her attorney, or access to her followers. Despite repeated requests by her attorney, Wong was not accorded a hearing regarding her exclusion from the United States.

15

Wong was removed from the United States on June 22, 1999, and remains outside the country.

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old main, just fyi

you may want to block out your plate number on your car.

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Belongs to the WU-WEI TIEN TAO ASSOCIATION and has been in this unfinished state since their religious leader was summarily deported back in 2001.

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[This message has been edited by spadilly (edited 3/12/2008 11:02a).]

thanks for this i pass that everyday and have always wondered what it was as well

looks like a great place for white linen Sundae Fundae

I deleted the photo that had my car in it...that just happened to be the best view of the building. If I wanted to get attention for my car I would do it over in the automotive forum.

Spadilly,

Thousands of people see my car and license plate everyday. What is the difference if a few hundred forum members also see it?

If you ever read the rivalries board, you know how people will dig up info on people. Better safe than sorry.

just looking out for you ...

Thanks

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Ellie
posted 11:39a, 03/12/08



If you ever read the rivalries board, you know how people will dig up info on people. Better safe than sorry.

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Not hard when you someone uses their name as their username. Also if you're a gigantic d-bag to everyone on the forum that tends to piss people off. I don't think that Old Main fits either of those criteria.

I didn't say he didn't deserve it. I was pointing out that there are a lot of freaks on the internet.

To say that Bud Lite Kaminski deserved to have his pic posted of him dressed as a care bear on Texags is quite an understatement.

I'm full of understatements.

I thought it might be Balyor's Houston MBA program site.