Locals bringing retail glitz to Cool Springs

Group with plenty of Vanderbilt ties will take up two Westgate buildings

Email | Print By Geert De Lombaerde

In an audacious bet that the beginning of the next consumer-led economic boom is at hand, a group of local investors is preparing to open glitzy Cool Springs space that will market Italian sports cars, private jets and swanky weddings.

Durégo, named after founder Durégo Jevon Lewis, will next month open the doors to its 8,440-square-foot events space in the former Copeland's of New Orleans restaurant on Westgate Circle. In addition to weddings, the building will be marketed for corporate events and label-release parties for up to 350 people.

The company also is renovating 6,000 square feet nearby into a showroom for Maserati, Ducati motorcycles and other expensive toys with and without wheels. Those offerings will be rolled next year "in phases to coincide with the growth of the economy."

Lewis, who earned an MBA from Vanderbilt's Owen Graduate School of Management in 2006, has brought on board a number of others with close connections to Owen. Among them are Jim Jirjis, chief informatics officer of Vanderbilt University Medical Center's clinics, and Tami Fassinger, Owen's associate dean of executive programs.