He’s Just Nutty About 2 1/2-Acre Lot in Beverly Hills Area

Actor Eddie Murphy has purchased about 2 1/2 acres, where he plans to build a home, in the Beverly Hills area.

The property was not on the market, but Murphy offered more than the $5.5 million paid by the owner for the site in May. The owner was not eager to sell, so Murphy upped the price close to the double-digit mark, according to local Realtors not involved in the deal.

The land is in a guard-gated community, where all of the lots have been sold and most of the community is developed. Only a couple of other sites may be available for resale, one at $8.5 million, the other at $10 million.

Murphy, 39, played Sherman Klump and Buddy Love as well as multiple members of the Klump family in “Nutty Professor II: The Klumps,” which took in more than $40 million at the box office its debut weekend in July.

He co-stars in the action comedy “Pluto Nash,” to be in theaters April 6, and he lends his voice to the animated movie “Shrek,” due out May 18. He also reprises his role in the sequel “Dr. Dolittle 2,” to be released June 22.

Barbara Robinson of DBL Realtors, Beverly Hills, represented Murphy in his purchase.

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Charlie Lyons, former chief executive and president of the entertainment and media company that owned the NBA Denver Nuggets and produced the movie “Air Force One” (1997), has purchased a newly built Pacific Palisades home. The asking price was just under $5 million.

The house has six bedrooms in 6,200 square feet. The home, behind gates, also has a gym, offices, eight-car garage, pool, spa and coastline views.

Jody Fine, with Prudential John Aaroe & Associates, Pacific Palisades, and Joe Babajian, in the firm’s Beverly Hills office, represented Lyons in buying, sources said, and Sharon Sitrin, in the Palisades office, had the listing. Fine and Babajian just relocated from Coldwell Banker (Fred Sands), Beverly Hills.

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Longtime L.A. talk-radio personality Ken Minyard and his wife, Jaqi, have sold their home near the Sunset Strip and purchased a home in the Channel Islands Harbor area of Oxnard for about the same price--$1.1 million.

Their new place, a 3,500-square-foot contemporary, is on the water with a boat dock. Their former home, a five-bedroom contemporary with a gym and a media room in about 4,000 square feet, was sold to an investor who put it up for lease at $11,950 a month.

Minyard, 60, was a regular for 25 years on KABC. For the last couple of years, he teamed with his son, Rick, on KRLA-AM.

Jory Burton at DBL Realtors, Sunset, had the Sunset-area listing. Patrick Norman, also at DBL, has the listing on the lease.

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Hot Property runs Thursdays in SoCal Living and Sundays in Real Estate. Ryon may be reached at ruth.ryon@latimes.com.