Did Apple's new 'spaceship' HQ cost $7.3 billion? I Did Apple's sprawling 'spaceship' campus cost $5BILLION to build? Experts say 75 acre campus likely went four billion over the original estimated cost I The real cost of Apple's new 'spaceship' campus may surprise you

Santa Clara County's tax assessor has estimated the campus's cost

The cost of the building has previously been estimated to be closer to $1billion

Difference could be due to not properly accounting for labor costs and building permits, among other construction costs

Apple's new 'spaceship' campus might have cost as much as $5billion, according to Santa Clara County's tax assessor.

Assessor Larry Stone told the San Jose Mercury News that he estimated the cost for the Cupertino, California campus to be the figure. 

If true, the number is significantly higher than previous estimates. 

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Apple CEO Tim Cook speaks during an event and a prototype for the Apple Park, a spaceship-like campus for the tech company, is pictured behind him. Santa Clara County's tax assessor has estimated the campus might cost up to $5billion

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The 175-acre campus has previously been estimated to cost closer to $1billion

Construction company BuildZoom, for example, estimated that the 175-acre campus cost $1.1billion.

Stone told the Mercury News that the cost discrepancy could be attributed to misunderstandings about building permits and not fully accounting for labor costs.

Last month, Apple unveiled its highly anticipated new campus, the Apple Park. The campus, which was designed by architecture firm Foster + Partners, covers 2.8 million square feet and accommodates 12,000 employees. But, how much did it cost to build this massive campus?

According to Santa Clara County Assessor Larry Stone, Apple’s new spaceship campus might have cost as much as $5 billion. That is almost, $1,785 per square foot and $12.40 per square inch! In conversation with Mercury News, Stone stated that the cost discrepancy could be attributed to misunderstandings about building permits and not fully accounting for labor costs. In September 2016, the Assessor's Office estimated that the Apple spaceship had, as of January 2016, cost $1.6 billion.

Previously, construction data and analytics startup BuildZoom estimated that the new Apple campus costs more than $1.1 billion. The report added that the Apple Park project was initially scheduled to open in 2015 but, it faced numerous delays which undoubtedly drove up costs.

It is also believed that its construction came amid a Silicon Valley economic boom, when the Bay Area faced a shortage of construction workers, according to Issi Romem, chief economist for BuildZoom.

The new campus is in Cupertino, with the Jobs Theater on a hill-top overlooking meadows and the main building. "Steve (Jobs) was exhilarated, and inspired, by the California landscape, by its light and its expansiveness," his widow Laurene Powell Jobs said. "It was his favorite setting for thought. Apple Park captures his spirit uncannily well."