money pit

plural money pits

1. idiomaticA possession or financial commitment, especially a building or vehicle, that creates substantial ongoing expenses, especially one whose costs are considered to be unsustainable.

   Close to two decades past deadline and now carrying a projected $100 billion price tag, it has not returned a lick of good science — nor is it likely to.

   2007 June 14, Jeff Kluger, “Is the Space Station a Money Pit?”, in Time

   2 more examples

   [T]he district does not want to hold on to the nearly 50-year old^([sic]) school for very much longer, as it has outlived its usefulness and has become a money pit.

   1989 March 10, Laurence Iliff, “Parents Poll Hits Closing Of Ramona”, in The Press-Courier, USA, retrieved 27 Sep 2011, page 1

   Critics lambasted the building's design, the art collection and Mr. Hartford, whose gallery became a money pit. Within a year he was nosing around for a partner or buyer.

   1997 February 15, Michael Kimmelman, “An Old Dream For the Arts, A New Chance For the City”, in New York Times, retrieved 27 Sep 2011

1. capitalizedinformalsometimesA complicated, seemingly man-made excavation on Oak Island in Nova Scotia, Canada, rumored to contain pirate treasure and which has been repeatedly and unsuccessfully probed at great expense.

   The Money Pit shaft rested atop two 500 foot "protection tunnels" which were connected to the bay.

   1972 December 5, Tom Tiede, “Diggers Keep Seeking Hole Truth of Island's Pirate Treasure Shaft”, in Milwaukee Journal, USA, retrieved 27 Sep 2011, page 1

   4 more examples

   In 1896 . . . work was again started with two engines and steam pumps, with the intention of pumping out the "money pit".

   1909 May 20, “Is Capt. Kid's Treasure in Chester Basin, N.S.?”, in St. John Sun, Canada, retrieved 27 Sep 2011

   They sank twenty shafts in a ring round the central money pit, and drove tunnels endlessly in the hope of intercepting the underground channel and so draining the treasure shaft.

   1926 June 6, Catherine MacKenzie, “Tide Guards Oak Island's Buried Gold”, in New York Times, page SM11

   Edward Reichert, a New Yorker, was planning "a gigantic project" . . . to move in power excavation equipment to seek the storied "money pit".

   1947 June 4, “Gigantic Search For Treaure May Move Island”, in Ottawa Citizen, Canada, retrieved 27 Sep 2011, page 29

   But the granddaddy of all hoards could be resting at the bottom of a 200- foot shaft on Oak Island, off Nova Scotia. This so-called Money Pit has exercised a moth-to-flame attractive power over investors since it was discovered in 1795.

   1991 July 15, “Hunting for the Grandddaddy of Pirate Treasures”, in CNNMoney.com, retrieved 27 Sep 2011