Nashville votes to condemn DC Blox's data center site next to the zoo

Metro Nashville’s council voted 27-5 to authorize eminent domain proceedings against a 23-acre parcel at 648 Grassmere Park, immediately adjacent to the Nashville Zoo, where data center operator DC Blox intends to build. The move inverts the usual politics of condemnation: rather than seizing land to enable development, the city is invoking eminent domain to stop a project, saying it would repurpose the site for offices, warehouse space, and employee training. Residents and zoo leadership had pushed back for months over noise, emissions, lighting, and the potential effect on the zoo’s animals.

The vote is an option, not a purchase — Metro has not opened price negotiations and is not yet committed to acquiring the land. Cost is the sticking point: DC Blox paid roughly $23 million for the property, but under Tennessee law the city would likely owe at least $37 million to take it, a premium taxpayers would absorb. Five council members dissented, with Ginny Welsch calling the maneuver ‘a gross misuse of the power of condemnation.’ The action runs alongside a separate proposed moratorium on new data centers in the city.

The fight is a local instance of a national pattern: as AI-driven demand fuels a data center buildout, communities are increasingly resisting the facilities over their power draw, water use, and neighborhood impact. What makes Nashville notable is the tool — using eminent domain as a blocking mechanism sets up a costly legal and fiscal test of how far a city can go to override where compute infrastructure gets built.