Auction prices paid for Laguna Niguel’s Ziggurat office complex and a historic home run ball hit by Shohei Ohtani were boosted by what amounts to “extra innings” of bidding.

You see, both assets sold in October through the auction world’s “soft close” — where bidders control when the final gavel strikes. This online sales tactic uses a variable ending to recreate the energy a human auctioneer brings to a room full of bidders.

The Chet Holifield Federal Building’s auction was extended by nearly three months by this quirk, upping the final price by $40 million to $177 million at its Oct. 24 completion.

And almost two added hours of bidding for the baseball struck by the Dodgers’ superstar boosted the collectible’s price by $1.8 million to $4.4 million in an auction that ended Oct. 22.

Ziggurat zigzags

The U.S. government is done using the south Orange County landmark built in 1971 and its 89 acres. So, the federal General Services Administration launched an auction June 5 for what’s surely a prime real estate opportunity.

The rules stated that any new bid in a 24-hour period pushed the deadline back another full day. That requirement was met on the first deadline day, July 31, and on 58 business days until the end.

The final price was a 152% jump from the initial $70 million asking price.

Baseball bounces

Ownership of the Ohtani ball — still to be determined by a court — was quickly cashing in on baseball history made on Sept. 19. Ohtani’s home run made him the first player to hit 50 homers and steal 50 bases in a season.

This bidding, run by Goldin Auctions, started Sept. 27 with an asking price of $610,000 — that’s $500,000 plus a 22% fee paid to the auction house.

Its rules added only 30 minutes whenever a new bid was made after 7 p.m. on Oct. 22. By deadline day, there had been 25 bids that increased the price more than four-fold to $2.6 million.

Next came 15 more bids that started 3 minutes before the opening of “extra innings.” This extended activity, lasting almost two hours, added 70% to the final price.

All told, the Ohtani home run ball price ballooned 620% during the auction to an all-time high $4.4 million. The previous top price for a baseball is said to be $3.05 million, paid in 1999 for a record-breaking Mark McGwire home run ball.

Next steps

The federal government will name the Ziggurat buyer upon the sale’s official closing, unless that entity reveals itself sooner. That could take six months.

The new owner will likely demolish the structure, designed by famed architect William Pereira. The trick is getting local government approvals to turn the campus into new housing, shopping, entertainment, or other commercial real estate A court will decide who gets the proceeds of the Ohtani ball auction.

When the historic homer reached the stands in Miami, fans battled for the souvenir. The person who gained control of the ball and put it up for auction is being sued by two other fans who claim they possessed it first.

Jonathan Lansner is the business columnist for the Southern California News Group. He can be reached at jlansner@scng.com