Pushback grows over proposed data center next to Nashville Zoo

The Nashville Zoo’s fight against a proposed data center next door has rapidly become a citywide flashpoint, with an online petition surging from about 30,000 signatures in just a few hours to more than 150,000 within roughly three days.

At issue is a plan by Georgia-based DC BLOX to build a single-story, 69,220-square-foot data center at 648 Grassmere Park, directly beside Nashville Zoo property and next to the zoo’s parking lot. The project would replace two existing office buildings on a 23.5-acre site owned by MarketStreet Enterprises, and the permit application was still listed as open as the dispute intensified.

Zoo leaders say the facility could disrupt thousands of animals, including rare species, and they warn that construction activity, noise, light and resource use could all affect the zoo’s operations. The zoo launched the petition on June 3, framing the campaign as an effort to keep the project out of its backyard and rallying visitors, neighbors and supporters who do not want industrial development so close to a major attraction and nearby homes.

The controversy has widened beyond one parcel of land. In Nashville, the debate is now tied to a larger reckoning over how artificial intelligence and cloud-computing infrastructure are reshaping local land use, especially in fast-growing neighborhoods where industrial-scale facilities can collide with residential and recreational space. Local reporting has also said there are already 27 data centers in the Nashville area, underscoring how quickly the sector has expanded.

The pushback has reached Metro Council, where member Rollin Horton introduced legislation to regulate data centers in Davidson County. The proposal would add zoning definitions and new conditions for data centers, including restrictions tied to cooling, noise, generators, materials and setbacks, while drawing a line against very large data center campus projects. Local reporting says Nashville currently has no clear city rules specifically governing where and how these facilities can be built.

For the zoo and its supporters, the Grassmere Park proposal has become a test case for who bears the local costs of digital growth sold as a broader economic good. The site next to Nashville Zoo at Grassmere is still in early review, but the scale of the backlash suggests the permitting fight is only beginning.