86. The Cosmopolitan

Location: Las Vegas, Nevada
Total Cost: $3.9 billion*
Year Finished: 2010
The Cosmopolitan is a five-star hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada, and it is known for its residential-style rooms, many of which have private terraces, as well as its amazing skyline views. The average cost to stay at this hotel is around $383 per night, but, as with almost all Vegas hotels, that price rises and falls pretty regularly.

The Cosmopolitan ©TMP – An Instant of Time/Shutterstock
The Cosmopolitan was completed in late 2010 at a cost of $3.9 billion, adding it to the pantheon of pricey Vegas hotels. Owned by The Blackstone Group, the Cosmopolitan has generally gotten good reviews from those who have stayed there, scoring a 4/5 on TripAdvisor.

87. One57

Location: New York City, New York
Total Cost: $1.5 billion*
Year Finished: 2014
One57 is yet another incredibly expensive residence in New York City. One57 is a 1,005-foot-tall, seventy-five-story, supertall skyscraper with ninety-two condos. It sits atop the brand-new Park Hyatt Hotel, which has 210 rooms and is the flagship property for the Hyatt brand.

One57 ©haveseen/Shutterstock
The One57’s most expensive apartment cost $100.47 million, and it was purchased by billionaire Michael Dell, the founder and CEO of the tech company Dell, Inc. Want to rent an apartment there? Prepare to pay around $75,000 per month. The “cheapest” apartments to purchase there start at around $15.5 million, and, as with all of NYC, property prices are rising steadily. 

88. Allegiant Stadium

Location: Las Vegas, Nevada
Total Cost: $1.9 billion*
Year Finished: 2020
Allegiant Stadium is, for now, the largest entertainment venue in Las Vegas, and that’s saying something, as the city is known for its expensive buildings and ability to entertain, 24/7. Allegiant cost $1.9 billion to build, and it has 65,000 seats in total. It is the home stadium for the NFL Raiders, as well as several NCAA teams.

Allegiant Stadium ©Christian Petersen/Getty Images
Opened in 2020, it costs around $100 to park there for a gameday, a price that a lot of fans begrudgingly pay. Allegiant has been able to recoup some of its construction cost, and it racked up $112 million in ticket sales in 2021, the most in the entire NFL. 

89. Hong Kong Zhuhai Macau Bridge

Location: Lantau Island, Hong Kong
Total Cost: $20 billion*
Year Finished: 2018
The Hong Kong Zhuhai Macau Bridge is a feat of engineering and an expensive one at that. The massive bridge-tunnel system consists of an undersea tunnel, four artificial islands, and a trio of cable-stayed bridges. This bridge is the longest open-sea fixed link and sea crossing in the entire world.

Hong Kong Zhuhai Macau Bridge ©Mohammed Janoo/Shutterstock
It was constructed in the 2010s for $20 billion, and its purported “design life” (i.e. how long it will last) is 120 years. Mott MacDonald, the lead designer, was awarded the largest single design and construction contract in Hong Kong when he was tapped to build the Bridge in 2009.

90. Roybal Learning Center

Location: Los Angeles, California
Total Cost: $377 million*
Year Finished: 2009
Though the Roybal Learning Center, named after Edward R. Roybal, is not worth billions like some of the buildings on this list, it is still extremely expensive, considering that it is a school. This Learning Center cost $377 million to build in Los Angeles, California, and it was constructed to alleviate overcrowding in L.A.

Roybal Learning Center ©George Rose/Getty Images
The school is above-average, as far as student-teacher ratios go. It has 856 studios, and its student-teacher ratio is 19:1. It is one of the best-performing non-magnet schools in L.A., with some of the highest mathematics and English scores in California. It consists of many different features, including outdoor athletic facilities, a huge gymnasium, and “future student” learning communities, among others.

91. Winter Palace

Location: Saint Petersburg, Russia
Total Cost: $6.44 billion*
Year Finished: 1764
Adjusting for inflation, it is thought that it cost well over $6 billion to construct Winter Palace in Saint Petersburg, Russia. This palace was the home of the Russian Emperor for nearly two centuries, from 1732 to 1917. Nicholas II, and his family, the ill-fated Romanov clan, were the last residents of the Winter Palace.

Winter Palace ©TTstudio/Shutterstock
No one has lived there since the Romanovs’ dark end. Now, the Palace is home to Russia’s Hermitage Museum. Those visiting the Palace are always astonished by its size. It has 1,500 rooms and 117 staircases. The rooms range from formal meeting rooms to waiting rooms to private apartments.

92. The Duchy of Lancaster

Location: Lancaster, England
Total Cost: $797 million*
Year Finished: 1351
The Duchy of Lancaster, located in Lancaster, England, is one of two Royal duchies in the country, and it is worth a few hundred-million less than the Duchy of Cornwall. That said, it is still pricey, with an estimated value of just under $800 million.

The Duchy of Lancaster ©Peter is Shaw 1991/Shutterstock
The Duchy of Lancaster was constructed in the mid-1300s as an ancient inheritance. King Henry III gifted the Duchy to Edmund Crouchbank, his son. Previously, the lands had been owned by Simon de Montfort, the Earl of Leicester, but he had forfeited them to the King in the 1200s. Now, the Duchy is owned by the recently-crowned King Charles III.

93. Moorside Nuclear Power Plant

Location: Sellafield, Cumbria, England
Total Cost: $20 billion*
Year Finished: 2024
Currently, the Moorside Nuclear Power Station is still in the proposition stage, but, when it is constructed, it will be one of the most expensive nuclear power plants in the world, costing $20 billion to construct. Owned by NuGeneration, the plan is to have this plant online by 2024. But, now that Moorside’s ownership is in question, it remains to be seen whether this plant will meet its timeline.

Moorside Nuclear Power Plant @IsabellaIzzy1/Pinterest
Of course, there has been controversy over whether this plant should be constructed. Cumbrian residents have warned that, if this pricey plan does not go through, the collapse of the Moorside plant will “devastat[e]” the region, as it relies so heavily on nuclear power for its GDP.

94. The Central Arizona Project

Location: Tucson, Arizona
Total Cost: $4 billion*
Year Finished: 1993
The Central Arizona Project, also known as CAP, serves five million people—that’s more than eighty-percent of the entire population of Arizona. CAP is a 336-mile-long system that delivers water to people living in Pima, Pinal, and Maricopa counties. CAP was extremely expensive, with the final construction price for this aqueduct totaling $4 billion.

The Central Arizona Project ©Tim Roberts Photography/Shutterstock
Cities have made investments to pay for their right to use CAP, which has a capacity of 456 billion gallons of water per year. That is how the Project is funded. Capital charges from cities with contracts to use this water, which is sourced from the Colorado River, help offset the debt the government owes for building and maintaining CAP.

95. Harry Potter Warner Bros. Studios

Location: London, England
Total Cost: $160 million*
Year Finished: 2013
Harry Potter Warner Bros. Studios in London, England proved to be a heady investment for Warner Bros. The construction cost was easily in the nine figures, but it was a great bet, as Warner Bros. is making a lot of revenue from HP Studios. In 2020, even though everything was closed, Warner Bros. made over $50 million in revenue from this tourist attraction.

Harry Potter Warner Bros. Studios ©Craig Russell/Shutterstock
Harry Potter Warner Bros. Studios takes fans behind the scenes of the massively-successful Harry Potter series of movies. The franchise has grossed, from eight movies, $7.7 billion, and that’s just counting the main films. Some estimates state that J.K. Rowling makes $50 to $100 million each year from the continuing success of the franchise.

96. Shanghai World Financial Center

Location: Shanghai, China
Total Cost: $1.2 billion*
Year Finished: 2008
The Shanghai World Financial Center, a supertall skyscraper measuring 1,622 feet, cost around $1.2 billion to build. It has 101 floors, and the neo-futuristic building opened for business in August of 2008. Built by William Pedersen of Kohn Pedersen Fox, this Shanghai structure is an unmissable part of the Chinese city’s skyline.

Shanghai World Financial Center ©Fabio Nodari/Shutterstock
The SWFC is somewhat of a jack of all trades. It has office space, as well as a mall, restaurant, and hotel. To visit the SWFC as a tourist, tickets start at around $26. The skyscraper is a fitting addition to Shanghai, as it is one of the most important financial hubs in the world.

97. China’s CCTV Headquarters

Location: Chaoyang, China
Total Cost: $800 million*
Year Finished: 2012
The CCTV Headquarters, a unique building in Chaoyang, China, is the main hub of China Central Television. The building has been considered one of the greatest architectural works of the twenty-first century, and the Council on Tall Buildings & Urban Habitat awarded it the “Best Tall Building Worldwide” accolade in 2013.

China’s CCTV Headquarters ©ABCDstock/Shutterstock
The skyscraper is not a traditional tower. Instead, it consists of a loop of six vertical and horizontal sections that cover 5.1 million square feet of floor space, creating an asymmetrical grid with an open center. The building’s construction took a long time, as it is located in a seismic zone (something that presented a lot of challenges for developers).

98. Cadarache ITER Nuclear Fusion Power Plant

Location: Saint-Paul-les-Durance, France
Total Cost: $3.9 billion*
Year Finished: 2025
The Cadarache ITER Nuclear Fusion Power Plant (ITER stands for “International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor”) is expected to be completed in 2025. It is not a stretch to call this a megaproject, as, by the time the first plasma and main reactor are completed, the construction cost will be well into the billions.

Cadarache ITER Nuclear Fusion Plant @nawapon01/Pinterest
Located in southern France, the Cadarache ITER Plant will be revolutionary, as it is the largest planned fusion reactor in the world. It will have ten times the plasma volume of other plants of its kind in operation today. If all goes well, the ITER Plant could be a gamechanger for the way the entire world, not just France, creates electricity.