About halfway between Ferriday and Vidalia is an empty lot with a sign out front.

There’s not much to look at right now, but in about six weeks, it will be the Miss-Lou’s newest business: Gulf South Auction Center.

&uot;Basically we’ve already started business,&uot; Terry Shirley, one of the business owners, said. &uot;We already have some auctions set up for September and October.&uot;

The business, owned by David Keyser and Shirley, will run auctions both at its headquarters at 5400 U.S. 84 and across Louisiana and Mississippi. Those headquarters haven’t been built just yet &045;delays with getting permits approved have made getting the building in place take longer than the pair had hoped.

&uot;You know how it is &045; it always cost twice as much as you expected and takes twice as long,&uot; Keyser said.

Construction should begin in the next two weeks, with the building &045; a 50-foot by 100-foot structure &045; completed about two weeks after that. Bryant Hammett and Associates is the engineering firm handling the building plans.

Gulf South will have four full-time employees at the Vidalia building in addition to a number of temporary workers to help out during auctions, Keyser said.

Their primary focus will be a weekly Wednesday night car auction for car dealers, Keyser said.

&uot;They’re already excited about it,&uot; Keyser said. &uot;Right now those dealers have to go to Hattiesburg or Alexandria to buy new cars, so it’ll be faster for them and with the rising cost of gas a lot cheaper too.&uot;

But Gulf South will do a lot more than just cars, Keyser said.

&uot;Just about anything you have, we can auction it off,&uot; Keyser said.

Keyser said finding the right region to headquarter the new business took some time.

&uot;We looked for a while to find the right place for this, and I think we found it,&uot; Keyser said.

&uot;This is a great location. We have Vidalia, Ferriday and Natchez all right here. And Natchez is one of my wife’s and my favorite towns. Our son came up here for his honeymoon.&uot;

Even without a building in place, the business has already made friends with some of its neighbors. Curtis Wreckers, which occupies the land just east of Gulf South, put an old school bus on the lot &uot;so we’d have a place to stay here,&uot; Keyser joked.

Both Keyser and Shirley are retired Louisiana State Police officers. Keyser also owns a marina business in New Orleans.