Singer Melanie Brown, also known as Scary Spice from her days with the Spice Girls, has purchased a gated home in the San Fernando Valley area for about $3.15 million.

The country French-style house has five bedrooms and eight bathrooms in more than 8,000 square feet of living space. Wrought-iron doors open to an entry foyer with limestone floors. The chateau, its 1,352-square-foot detached media house and a pool sit on more than half an acre.

Designed by Xorin Balbes and built in 2006, the house has a fireplace in the family room, living room and master bedroom, plus three dishwashers and a yoga studio.

Brown and her husband, Stephen Belafonte, bought the home because they have plans to expand their family, said Charmaine DeGrate, an agent with Coldwell Banker, Beverly Hills, who also represented Brown in the $3.14 million sale of her Hollywood Hills residence in April. That house has four bedrooms and four bathrooms in 3,476 square feet.

DANDRIDGE HOME

IS ON THE MARKET

A Hollywood Hills home once owned by actress Dorothy Dandridge is on the market at $3,495,000.

The restored 1926 Mediterranean has three bedrooms and five bathrooms in 4,368 square feet. Three terraces with city views provide space for entertaining. There are arched doorways and windows, beamed ceilings and stained-glass windows. The master bedroom suite features a circular bathroom.

Dandridge, whose early work included an uncredited role in the 1937 Marx Brothers film A Day at the Races, was nominated for an Oscar for her performance in the title role of Carmen Jones (1954) and bought the home as her personal residence after that success. She died in 1965 at age 42.

The property sold for $849,000 in 1998, according to public records.

PITCHER SELLING,

MOVING NEAR OCEAN

Former major league pitcher Bret Saberhagen has listed his gated home for sale at $3.25 million.

The renovated and rebuilt compound in Calabasas, north of Los Angeles, includes a 5,600-square-foot, single-story Tuscan-style villa and two guesthouses on 1.2 acres. The main house has a home theater with a 90-inch screen and eight recliners, a wine cellar that can seat 12, five bedroom suites and six bathrooms.

Outdoors there is a cabana with a fireplace and television, a pool with spa, a wet bar and a putting green.

Saberhagen, a two-time American League Cy Young Award winner, grew up in the San Fernando Valley. He went on to play for the Kansas City Royals, the New York Mets and the Boston Red Sox.

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