What $236 million buys: The Bear Stearns buyout

( Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times / January 6, 2008 )

Value judgment: Bear Stearns vs. construction costs of the L.A. Unified School District's Vista Hermosa school complex

More expensive: Vista Hermosa, at $400 million-plus

JPMorgan Chase's takeover of Bear Stearns, announced Sunday, gave the investment bank a value of just $236 million

The school complex to be known as Vista Hermosa, originally conceived as the Belmont Learning Complex, will almost certainly have the distinction of being the nation's most expensive high school, with construction costs in excess of $400 million.