The Nashville Zoo has issued a detailed rebuttal to public statements made by DC BLOX, the Atlanta-based digital infrastructure company, disputing its characterization of the planned data center facility to sit adjacent to the cultural attraction. The zoo's statement also challenges the company’s claims of legal standing regarding the property.
At issue is a roughly 202,000-square-foot data center facility DC BLOX has proposed constructing on land purchased from MarketStreet Enterprises. The center would include an on-site electrical substation and draw up to 50 megawatts of power.
That’s enough, the zoo says, to supply power to about 50,000 homes. Nashville Zoo spokesperson Leah Trice says that scale of demand raises concerns about grid reliability in an area already prone to outages.
“Oftentimes without reason, this area already experiences numerous outages throughout the year,” Trice tells Scene sister publication the Nashville Post. “During the February ice storm, the zoo lost power for nearly three days and struggled to maintain operations. Putting a strain on an already poor power grid would be catastrophic for the zoo, its animals, and the people who live and work in this community.”
Freddie O'Connell's office declined to offer digital infrastructure developer incentives during March meeting
DC BLOX has said it will pay for all power infrastructure needed to serve the site and cover usage at regulated rates, which it says it does in other states. The company has also said that its cooling systems — either waterless air-cooled or closed-loop — would avoid continuous draws from utility water.
Trice says that doesn't address concerns about water used to flush and refresh a closed-loop system over time. It also doesn’t address concerns about damage to a stormwater retention pond that filters runoff from the surrounding industrial park, according to Trice.
That pond, Trice says, protects a tributary that is habitat for the Nashville crayfish, a federally protected species the zoo has worked to stabilize.
The sharpest dispute centers on DC BLOX's claim, made at a June 25 Metro Planning Commission meeting, that the company is already vested in the property.
“That is simply untrue,” Trice says. “The current closing date of the sale with MarketStreet Enterprises is July 6. As of right now, most of the permits have not been approved. This can be found by the public via Metro Permits.”
Under Tennessee Code Annotated 13-4-310, Trice says that a vested property right attaches only upon local government approval of a development plan or building permit, not upon filing an application.
In a statement to the Post, DC BLOX says that “much of the concerns expressed publicly to date misrepresent the potential impacts that our project will have on zoo animals and the community.”
“We believe we can address publicly stated concerns by adhering to the latest, rigorous industry standards and with our ability to make appropriate design adjustments in response to specific concerns,” the company says in its statement.
DC BLOX adds that its data centers deploy state-of-the-art technology and conform to the industry’s most stringent environmental standards.
“With our ability to alter designs to conform to local requirements, open dialogue is the best way to listen to specific concerns, allowing us to propose satisfactory solutions," reads DC BLOX's statement. "Finally, that dialogue has begun.”
Trice says in a separate email to the Post that MarketStreet Enterprises, the Nashville-based real estate investment and development firm that plans to sell the property to DC BLOX, has received threats tied to the dispute.
“It is vital to stay focused on the facts and on our ongoing concerns about the impact this will have on our community, including both humans and animals,” Trice says. “There is no place for threats against the people (and their families) on either side of this debate. Threats only detract from the issue and distract from our ultimate goal.”
In searching for a solution to the community pushback, Metro Nashville could soon seize control of the zoo-area property that DC BLOX has been eyeing for the data center project.
Following community backlash, Metro could take control of South Nashville property for public use
Mayor Freddie O'Connell's office filed condemnation legislation last week seeking to use eminent domain to acquire the site at 648 Grassmere Park for public use. In an emailed statement to the Scene, O'Connell said Metro has a "legitimate need for this property."
The mayor's condemnation legislation was late-filed for the Metro Council's July 7 meeting, during which councilmembers will decide whether to take it up.
The same meeting will bring a second-of-three-readings vote on a bill that would impose strict new regulations on data centers. O'Connell has backed that bill and another for a 90-day moratorium on new data center construction.
Metro Councilwoman Joy Styles, who is running for mayor, tells WSMV that O’Connell’s possible use of eminent domain to acquire the site would face “guaranteed lawsuits” and is a “knee-jerk reaction” to public outcry over the project.
Styles also noted that the mayor’s office has “known about this project for months” — something the Post previously reported. Alex Apple, a spokesperson for the mayor’s office, told the Post in June that the Mayor’s Office of Economic and Community Development met with DC BLOX twice before the project was officially announced on May 20.
The ECD office met with DC BLOX in February and again in March, when the office declined to offer the company incentives, according to Apple.
This article was first published by our sister publication, the Nashville Post.
