Nashville wants to seize a $700M data center site to keep it away from the zoo next door

The Nashville Metro Council voted 27-5 last Wednesday to authorize Mayor Freddie O'Connell to use eminent domain against a planned $700 million data center campus that would sit across the street from the city's zoo.

The 23-acre site at 648 Grassmere Park is owned by regional operator DC Blox, which has said it intends to keep building there. The company argues the parcel already hosted data-center functions, so a new 69,220-square-foot facility is a continuation, not a step-change in disruption.

Council members framed the move as a public-interest case built around the Nashville Zoo at Grassmere, an 188-acre property that opened in 1990, runs more than 50 conservation programs, and is on track for roughly 2 million annual visitors by 2027. Zoo officials have pointed to noise, light, and reported infrasound from existing US data centers as the disruption they want to head off. A petition opposing the project, started by the zoo and amplified by country artists Brad Paisley, Sheryl Crow, and Jack White, passed 500,000 signatures by the end of July.

The vote is an authorization, not an acquisition. Several legal steps remain, and DC Blox has signaled a fight that could run for months.