Richard Ehrlich

A small band of residents and the owner of a defunct Culver City sports club have stepped up protests to the City Council for requiring that the owner give the city $280,000 for recreational facilities in order to build townhouses on the club site. The owner reactivated a suit against the city, charging that the fee is excessive and amounts to a taking of his property without just compensation.

The owner of a defunct Culver City sports club has decided to proceed with construction of townhouses on the site, despite the City Council's condition that he give the city $280,000 for recreation facilities. "We're prepared to pay it . . . but we will not do so willingly," Mitch Chupack, a representative for property owner Richard K. Ehrlich, said last week. Chupack said he was finishing plans to submit to the building department.

"Survivor" host Jeff Probst has purchased the Gene Autry estate in Studio City for $5 million. Built in 1949 by the cowboy singer-actor, the forested 3.68-acre property had been donated by Autry's widow, Jacqueline Autry, to the Autry National Center of the American West. The two-story Monterey-style house of about 8,000 square feet has pegged hardwood floors, a family room with a wet bar, a library/media room with vintage walnut paneling, a breakfast room, five bedrooms and seven bathrooms.

Sandra Bullock, who co-stars in "Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood" and earlier this year played an FBI profiler in the thriller "Murder by Numbers," has sold a Hollywood Hills home she owned for a price in the mid-$700,000s. The Mediterranean-style house, built in 1925 and recently renovated, has four bedrooms and two bathrooms in 2,200 square feet. The house also has patios, balconies and city-to-ocean views.

On a bad-hair day in Hollywood, it's Rachel Zoe to the rescue. One of Hollywood's hottest stylists, she is known for making over startlets with her own signature look -- long blond hair, spray-on tan and sexy '70s eyes. Now she is ready to use her talents on the dream house she is planning. Zoe and her husband, entrepreneur Rodger Berman, want to build after they sell the home they own above Sunset Boulevard in the Hollywood Hills. They are asking close to $3 million.

Singer-songwriter Paul Anka, and his wife, Anne, have listed their home in a gated community above Beverly Hills at just under $6 million. They plan to buy a smaller home in the L.A. area. The couple put their Beverly Hills-area home on the market because they recently purchased a home in Las Vegas. They are former longtime residents of the city.

Frankie Muniz, star of the Fox sitcom "Malcolm in the Middle," has put one of his two Westside homes on the market at about $4.6 million. Muniz, 19, wound up with two homes in the same neighborhood last year after an open house sign sparked his interest. Curious, he went inside. What he saw was in stark contrast to the Old World Spanish villa he owns down the street.

Michael Vartan, co-star of the ABC-TV series "Alias," is on track to become a first-time home buyer with the purchase of a Hollywood Hills home for $1.65 million. Escrow is due to close in October. The contemporary-style home was built in the 1950s, but its kitchen and 3 3/4 bathrooms have been updated. The 2,500-square-foot house also has three bedrooms and an attached guest suite. The master bedroom has four closets.

Britney Spears, who exchanged wedding vows with dancer Kevin Federline on Sept. 18, has bought a Malibu home for just under $6.9 million. The traditional-style house has eight bedrooms and eight bathrooms in about 9,000 square feet. The home, built in the '80s on slightly more than 1 1/2 acres behind gates, also has a tennis court, pool, spa, gym, gardens and outdoor kitchen.

Dancer-singer-actress Jennifer Lopez may have taken a tumble during a performance of her new single, "Louboutins," at the American Music Awards last month, but she's on terra firma where the sale of her French country villa is concerned. The Bel-Air property that she and her singer husband, Marc Anthony , listed more than a year ago at $8.5 million has sold for $7.5 million, according to the Multiple Listing Service. The walled and gated house, built in 1941, sits on three-quarters of an acre and has five fireplaces, hardwood and stone floors, and a second-floor terrace looking out over the back lawn.