Nashville halts data center development for now

(The Center Square) – The Nashville Metropolitan Council approved a moratorium on data center development until Dec. 1 and new regulations in light of opposition to a data center proposed near the Nashville Zoo. The regulations ban small data center construction within 100 feet of churches, daycares, schools or zoos. Large data centers cannot locate within 2,640 feet of them, according to the ordinance. Atlanta-based DC BLOX is proposing a 70,000-square-foot data center. A company spokesman told The Center Square he has nothing further to share about the project. The council also moved forward legislation by Nashville Mayor Freddie O'Connell that would take the property near the Nashville Zoo using eminent domain. "I have carefully followed the concerns from the community and the Zoo and also remain deeply concerned about the proposed use," O'Connell said when proposing the ordinance. "With the closure of Metro Southeast and departments – from the Fire Department to NDOT – needing expansion space and in transition, we have a variety of needs in Metro." The data center drew opposition from both political parties. U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn, seeking the Republican nomination for governor, said the placement 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, opposes 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." Other Tennessee communities have initiated or are considering data center moratoriums. A moratorium on data centers "would discourage investment and send a signal that the community is closed for business," according to the Data Center Coalition, the industry's membership coalition. Data centers contributed $10 billion to Tennessee's gross domestic product in 2024 and paid $625 million in state and local taxes, according to the Data Center Coalition. More than 68,000 Tennesseans are employed in data center-supported jobs, the coalition says. Tennessee is a "critical decision point" when it comes to data centers, according to a report by Think Tennessee, a nonpartisan think tank. Electricity consumption in the Tennessee Valley reached 8.3 million megawatt-hours, enough to power 661,000 homes, according to the organization. "The policy decisions that are made today on pricing, grid planning, that's going to determine whether it's going to shift costs onto everyday households," Chris Candelaria, research director for Think Tennessee, told The Center Square in an interview. Gov. Bill Lee signed House Bill 1847, which requires data centers that use more than 50 megawatts of power to pay their electricity costs. Candelaria called the bill "a good start." Tennessee has 63 data centers, according to Data Center Map, which tracks the facilities.