By IANS,
New York : The prestigious Asia Society has started work on its Texas centre’s new headquarters in Houston. Projected to cost $40 million, it will be completed by 2010.
The groundbreaking ceremony for the centre, called Asia House, in the city’s museum district was held Thursday.
Sam Kannappan, co-founder of Sri Meenakshi Temple in Houston and a prominent community leader, has been made Asia Society Texas Advisory Board member.
Those present at the ceremony included consul generals of China, Korea and Japan, Houston Mayor Bill White, and Charles Foster, chair of the Asia Society, Texas.
Nancy C. Allen, who donated $7 million for the centre, said that she had passion about Asia House. Her son, Edward R. Allen III, serves as the chairman for the Asia House.
Asia Society’s Texas centre, one of the 10 worldwide, has since 1979 served as a forum for viewpoints and discussions on Asia-related topics and offers more than 100 programmes each year.
John D. Rockefeller 3rd founded Asia Society in 1956 in New York to familiarise Americans about Asia. Its current global president is Vishakha N. Desai, an Indian American.