The 15-acre holding is located in Montgomery, a suburb north ofHouston. The former Westland Oil Building, now called WestlinBuilding, is a piece of local history. The fortress-complex wasbuilt in the 1980s by Ling-Chieh "Louis" Kung, a wealthy Houstonoil tycoon and nephew of Madame Chiang Kai-shek. Kung, said to be adirect descendent of Confucius, came to the United States afterattending England's Sandhurst Military Academy and serving as amajor during World War II.

Gary Goff of Curtis Development in Montgomery tells GlobeSt.comthat he has letters of intent for more than 50% of the complex, butis still keeping open the option to sell the holding to a user fora corporate campus after the renovation is complete in thirdquarter 2002. Goff estimates the property's value at $20million.

Kung was a Chinese diplomat in Washington, DC and later moved toHouston. In 1961, he founded the Westland Oil Development Corp. Inthe early 1980s, he relocated the operation to Montgomery and setabout building the office complex.