Downtown Covington is putting a round pizza in a Square.

The Newton County/Covington Office of Economic Development and Main Street Covington announced the pending arrival of Your Pie pizza shop to the Covington Square Friday.

Your Pie brick oven pizza restaurant will be taking up residence in the historic former Mayfield Hardware building sometime in early 2016. The restaurant will serve brick oven pizzas, paninis, salads, gelato and craft beers. The Athens based restaurant chain has been named one of the Top 11 New Franchises by Entrepreneur Magazine recently and the Covington location will be the 16th Your Pie in Georgia.

“Your Pie is a huge win for Downtown Covington,” said Serra Hall, Senior Project Manager of the Economic Development Office. “Your Pie is a true example of how casual dining should be done — creatively and compellingly.”

Your Pie franchise owner Ross Bradley of Monroe said he was looking to maintain the historic integrity of the Mayfield Building, which went void of its hardware store in 2011.

“One of the exciting things to me is that — since we announced the closing of the store I get constant comments of childhood memories of the hardware store and people visiting with their families — their concept is family friendly,” Lee Mayfield, building owner, said.

Both Mayfield and Bradley have connected in partnership to utilize the University of Georgia Design Studio for additional guidance to ensure the historical integrity remains for years to come.

The future Washington Street restaurant, which will be next to Fletcher’s Jewelers, will create 25 jobs and represents a half a million dollar investment.

“This is a part of staying consistent with what is going on with the Square as it becomes an entertainment district,”

Covington Mayor Ronnie Johnston said. “When you drive through the Square at night there are cars from everywhere. To see that is very encouraging.”