Nashville will use 'eminent domain' to block a $700 million data center threatening iconic zoo
A somewhat unique turn of the tables
by https://www.techradar.com/uk/author/rahim-amir · TechRadarNews By Rahim Amir Published 11 August 2026
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- Nashville's Metro Council voted 27 to 5 to authorize acquiring the 23.49-acre site next to the Nashville Zoo by negotiation or condemnation
- This comes after a local fight escalated into a national campaign with a 500,000-signature petition
- The vote grants an option rather than a commitment: no negotiations have begun, an amendment requires an appraisal and a three-week wait, and it must still prove public need to a court
Nashville's Metro Council has voted 27 to 5 , to authorize the city to take the land where DC BLOX plans to build a data center next door to the Nashville Zoo at Grassmere.
It is, to date, the most aggressive move yet by an American city against a data center project, and it arrives after a local zoning fight escalated into a national one, replete with a petition carrying more than half a million signatures and objections from celebrities including Brad Paisley, Sheryl Crow and Jack White.
It is however, strictly speaking for now, not a decision to use eminent domain at all yet.
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A national story as eminent domain runs the other way
In a session that ran past midnight, the passed bill (BL2026-1489) authorizes Metro to acquire the 23.49-acre property at 648 Grassmere Park through "negotiation or condemnation." Those are two different things, and the legislation permits either.
The mayor's office has explicitly said that the vote does not commit Metro to buying the land, only that it gives the city the option, and that negotiations on a purchase price have not begun.
The bill also has other limitations in play: an amendment from Councilmember Quin Evans Segall added two more brakes: an appraisal must be presented to the council, and Metro must wait a minimum of three weeks from the vote before proceeding. Even after that, condemnation requires Metro to demonstrate to a court that it genuinely needs the property for public use. The stated uses are offices, warehouse space, and employee training.
The reason this is a national story is that eminent domain generally runs the other way; the standard version of this story is a utility or a developer using the state's condemnation power to clear land for infrastructure, over the objections of whoever happens to live on it.
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