(The Center Square) – A company that planned a data center near the Nashville Zoo has sued the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County over a moratorium passed by the council in July.
The lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee by DCB Nashville, a subsidiary of DC BLOX, says Metro officials are refusing to process the company’s permits in what it calls in court documents a “targeted attack” that violates federal constitutional protections.
A moratorium bars data center development until Dec. 1. A separate ordinance approved by the Metro Council on July 1 bans the construction of small data centers within 100 feet of churches, daycares, schools or zoos. Large data centers cannot locate within 2,640 feet of them, according to the ordinance. The council approved a separate measure on Aug. 4 that allows Metro to take DC BLOX’s property using eminent domain.
DCB Nashville said in the lawsuit that a data center was operating on the Grassmere Road property when the company began planning its nearly 70,000 square-foot facility in 2022. The company paid $23 million for the property in a deal that closed on July 16, according to the court documents.
The lawsuit cites comments from Metro officials indicating that they wanted to stop the data center.
“Councilmember Courtney Johnston, the principal sponsor of BL2026-1448 and an appellant challenging the Zoning Administrator’s decision, publicly stated that she was ‘doing everything I can, legislatively and otherwise, to prevent this project from coming to fruition’ next to the Nashville Zoo,” the lawsuit said. “Mayor Freddie O’Connell publicly opposed the Grassmere project and issued Executive Order No. 59 relating to data-center development and an expedited temporary moratorium.”
Other data center projects are not affected, the company said.
“Metro also has not imposed comparable moratoria on other industrial or commercial facilities based solely on characteristics such as electrical demand, backup generation, fuel storage, mechanical equipment, noise, vibration, or twenty-four-hour operation,” the lawsuit said. “DC BLOX’s relevant permits remain on hold while Metro has continues permitting activity for at least some other data-center or comparable projects.”
DCB Nashville is asking the court to issue a declaratory judgment stating the ordinances violate the company’s rights and are void and unenforceable against the company’s project. The company is also seeking just compensation for the $23 million it spent to purchase the property, should the court rule in Nashville’s favor.
Metro Legal is reviewing the lawsuit and preparing to defend Metro against DC Blox’s claims, said Metro Department of Law Director Tyler Yarbro in a statement provided to The Center Square.
“We are confident that Metro has acted lawfully in its dealings with DC Blox and in the enactment of the moratorium on data center permitting,” Yarbro said.
The DCB Nashville data center drew opposition from both political parties.
U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn, the Republican nominee for governor, said previously that the location of the data center should be reconsidered.
“Tennessee should be thoughtful and considerate when deciding where data centers are located,” Blackburn wrote in a social media post. “The proposed site near the Nashville Zoo is neither.”
State Rep. Justin Jones, D-Nashville, said he opposed the project because of its proximity to Fisk University, a private historically Black university.
“If it’s not good for a zoo, it’s not good for an HBCU,” Jones wrote on social media. “If this project was so amazing for universities, Vanderbilt would be building an AI data center on campus.”
