Nashville Zoo challenges data center planned next door
The zoo says a DC BLOX project could threaten endangered animals, while the company says the site is needed for regional digital infrastructure.
By Maya Lindqvist · Senior Technology Correspondent
4 min read
Nashville Zoo is fighting a planned data center next to its grounds, saying the project could affect thousands of animals, including protected and endangered species. The dispute has put a local development fight at the center of wider concerns over data centers, energy demand and the infrastructure behind digital services.
According to Fortune, Atlanta-based DC BLOX plans an initial 69,000-square-foot facility near the zoo, with a later building planned at 261,000 square feet. DC BLOX told Fortune the Nashville project is meant to serve as a digital connectivity hub for central Tennessee, not as a large AI factory.
The Nashville Zoo, which moved to its current site in 1997, houses more than 3,700 animals across 350 species, Fortune reported. The zoo runs a breeding program for endangered clouded leopards and also houses rare Amur leopards, a species with fewer than 200 remaining in the wild, according to the report.
Zoo turns to zoning and environmental claims
A zoo spokesperson told Fortune that the institution’s land-use lawyer has filed a zoning appeal with Nashville officials in an effort to overturn permits tied to the project. The zoo is also consulting an environmental rights lawyer about possible action connected to the protected species in its care, according to Fortune.
The zoo has also taken its objections public. Fortune reported that a petition launched by the zoo had gathered more than 533,700 signatures as of Monday afternoon.
Environmental groups have joined the zoo’s opposition. According to Fortune, the Center for Biological Diversity and the Southern Environmental Law Center sent a letter last week to DC BLOX and Nashville’s city council warning that noise and light from the project could affect breeding patterns and increase stress responses among animals.
The groups said in the letter, quoted by Fortune, that DC BLOX could face liability if activity connected to the data center annoys nearby endangered species or harms them by modifying or degrading habitat in ways that disrupt behavior.
Celebrity opposition adds pressure
Country musician Brad Paisley has urged his social media followers to oppose the project and sign the zoo’s petition, Fortune reported. Paisley, who has lived in Nashville for decades, called the planned facility an “absolute eyesore” in an Instagram video cited by Fortune.
Paisley also connected the project to his broader criticism of AI, Fortune reported. In a later video, he said AI uses intellectual property without permission and hurts working musicians, and he argued the data center proposal was being advanced in a similar manner.
Fortune reported that Kimberly Williams-Paisley, his wife, previously served on the Nashville Zoo’s board. A zoo spokesperson told Fortune she is not currently a board member.
Other artists and public figures have shown support for Paisley’s objections, according to Fortune. The report said Jack White, Morgane Stapleton, Sheryl Crow and Brandon Lake commented on Paisley’s Instagram post, while Jane Fonda recently attended a protest against a data center in Denver’s Elyria-Swansea neighborhood.
Company says the project is permitted
DC BLOX pushed back on the criticism in a statement to Fortune, saying data centers support the same digital tools artists use to distribute music, stream songs, reach fans on social media and post videos. Paisley’s representatives did not immediately respond to Fortune’s request for comment.
A DC BLOX executive told The New York Times that the zoo sits in an area already zoned for industrial use, Fortune reported. The property slated for the project previously held a smaller data center, according to the report.
At a recent Nashville Metropolitan Planning Commission meeting, a lawyer for DC BLOX said the building is vested, permits are already in hand and the company intends to build there while working with the community, Fortune reported.
The planning commission has recommended that Nashville’s city council pass two bills, according to the Chattanooga Times Free Press as cited by Fortune. One would create zoning rules for data centers, and the other would pause new data center projects until those rules are in place. Fortune reported that the planning commission is scheduled to review both bills at a public hearing on July 7.
This story draws on original reporting from Fortune.