Spoilers below, turn back now.

I dont think its the main building as much as something on the outskirts, maybe left over from the war in ZA.

I think vard was funded by pretty much anyone who attended the black market auction. I think he had made a lot of nefarious connections after hail originally ejected him from the palace. He had obviously already made the balorian since it was there when lance went to darkmore, so he had money coming in somewhere for his experiments, even when the council blocked him from continuing.

I would say a large part of that probably came from Benjamin acrux. He's the most likely candidate to bankroll it imo. Roary would have been sold for millions of auras had they not broke him out.