A new business has opened up in Covington – Premier Packaging Products Inc. – a French-owned company that manufactures cardboard packaging for the shipping of domestic products.

Premier Packaging is leasing a 20,000 square-foot warehouse from Capes Warehouses Inc. The warehouse is located not far from the Lochridge Industrial Park.

The business quietly opened up shop in Covington after receiving its business license from the city near the end of August. Premier Packaging Manager Olivier Gervais said they currently are employing only two people, but that the number of employees could rise to six in time.

 “We start small and we’ll see,” Gervais said.

Gervais declined to disclose what type of machinery the company uses, who their clients are and what their financial investment in the city is for proprietary reasons.

Premier Packaging was brought to Covington by the Covington/Newton County Chamber of Commerce and the Georgia Department of Economic Development. The project was formerly codenamed Project Cougar.

John Howard, property manager of Capes Warehouses, said the warehouse space currently leased by Premier Packaging was once leased by SKC Inc.

 “They were just on a temporary month-to-month basis,” Howard said. “This is the first time we’ve had anybody with a longer-term lease.”

Howard declined to say for how long Premier Packaging had taken out a lease.