The Nashville Zoo is fighting a proposal to build a 70,000-square-foot data center next to its property, warning the project could endanger thousands of animals.
DC Blox, the company behind the project, intends to construct the facility in the Grassmere Business Park, which sits directly adjacent to the zoo. An online petition against the project has already gathered more than 330,000 verified signatures.
Zoo officials explicitly targeted the rapid expansion of technology infrastructure in the petition, which has been shared more than 126,000 times.
“AI Data Centers are being built at an alarming pace, posing possible risks to diverse and vulnerable communities,” the petition states. “The next one could be located just feet away from one of the most fragile and rare collections of animals in the country unless Nashville Zoo supporters and city leaders intervene.”
Zoo CEO Rick Schwartz said the facility’s potential light and noise pollution pose a serious threat to the zoo’s 3,000 animals. He added that DC Blox has not engaged with the zoo regarding these issues.
“We have some of the most delicate and rarest animals in the world, specifically our clouded leopard, which is our signature species. We’ve bred more than anyone else in the world. We just had our 50th baby born, and they’re very sensitive to mechanical noises and light infiltration,” Schwartz said.
The zoo, which drew 1.4 million visitors in 2025, is currently preparing for a $65 million exhibit centered on Indonesia, which Schwartz described as the largest project in the institution’s history.
“[It] has orangutans, clouded leopards, tree kangaroos, underwater viewing of otters, giant hornbills, bird of paradise,” Schwartz said. “It’s going to be an amazing project.”
Zoo leaders had also hoped to use the neighboring site for a future children’s education and conservation center.
In the petition, the zoo argued that developers have offered no proof that the facility will be safe for the local environment.
“Yet, with no regulations or safeguards for use in place, developers intend to build a 69,000 square feet data center on land abutting the Zoo,” the document states. “They assert the community need not worry, that building a data center next door to one of the region’s most delicate environments will cause no harm. No one has shared studies or environmental impact assessments. Just their word.”
The text also states that these industrial facilities “consume enormous amounts of electricity and water; straining power grids, depleting natural resources, and damaging our watershed.”
These data centers function as massive warehouses filled with computer servers that keep the internet running, requiring substantial natural resources to prevent overheating. Tennessee currently houses 60 data centers, and the Tennessee Valley Authority expects that number to double by 2030.
A recently passed state law requires data center developers to cover their own infrastructure costs so utility companies do not raise local electricity bills to meet the energy demand.
In a statement provided to WTVF, DC Blox said it was committed to minimizing its impact on the surrounding area.
“The facility will not be an AI factory placing a burden on local resources,” the company said.
DC Blox pledged to use waterless cooling designs to preserve natural resources, cover all infrastructure costs required by the local utility and strictly maintain acceptable noise levels.
“DC BLOX understands and appreciates the concerns that have been raised about our newly proposed data center in Nashville near the zoo,” the statement read. “We look forward to working with local officials, community members, and the Nashville Zoo to minimize local impacts and to assure that there will be no health risks to residents and animals.”
Schwartz is calling on the public to intervene before municipal leaders make a final decision on the permits.
“We want the community to do exactly that, to stand with us to help fight against this data center,” Schwartz said. “There’s got to be a better place that it can go instead of around the number one attraction that’s focused on animals and children.”
The Independent has contacted DC Blox and the Nashville Zoo for comment.
