{"id":789,"date":"2026-06-06T04:36:32","date_gmt":"2026-06-06T04:36:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trustedmovinggroups.com\/?p=789"},"modified":"2026-06-06T04:36:32","modified_gmt":"2026-06-06T04:36:32","slug":"leopards-tigers-and-ai-data-oh-my-nashville-zoo-tries-to-halt-proposed-data-center","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trustedmovinggroups.com\/?p=789","title":{"rendered":"Leopards, tigers and AI data, oh my! Nashville Zoo tries to halt proposed data center"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A nationwide backlash against artificial intelligence data centers has a new ally: the leopards of the Nashville Zoo.<\/p>\n

Read more \u2018Maine had my back\u2019: Graham Platner hits the campaign trail amid latest turmoil<\/a><\/p>\n

The zoo, a popular destination in Tennessee\u2019s capital city, is trying to block a proposed 69,000-square-foot data center from being built next door. The zoo says that the facility would be about 50 yards from some of its animals and that the noise could disturb its residents, including a leap of leopards that hail originally from Southeast Asia.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe are vehemently opposed to having a data center so close to animals,\u201d said Rick Schwartz, the Nashville Zoo\u2019s president and CEO, in a phone interview Friday.<\/p>\n

The zoo this week launched an online petition against the data center that, as of Friday, had more than 180,000 signatures and 25,000 shares on Facebook. The petition asks city leaders to intervene to protect \u201cone of the most fragile and rare collections of animals in the country.\u201d<\/p>\n

Schwartz said he\u2019s especially worried about noises from the data center affecting the breeding of clouded leopards, a vulnerable species that the zoo is working to conserve.<\/p>\n

Courtney Johnston, a member of the metropolitan council whose district includes the zoo, said she was being inundated by concerned residents. She said she had filed a zoning appeal and would ask the council to vote Tuesday on a data-center moratorium.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI\u2019m getting phone calls. I\u2019m getting emails. All of my social media. Text messages. The community is speaking,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the latest example of data centers getting pushback in communities nationwide, as neighbors say they don\u2019t want to live near them or object more broadly to the direction of the tech and AI industries. There\u2019s been a bipartisan push for regulation, as well as lawsuits and opposition to tax breaks.<\/p>\n

The Nashville project is from DC BLOX, an Atlanta-based company that specializes in building and operating data centers as a service to \u201chyperscalers, enterprises, communications providers, and technology companies,\u201d according to its website.<\/p>\n

\u201cDC BLOX understands and appreciates the concerns that have been raised about our newly proposed data center in Nashville near the zoo,\u201d the company said in a statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe 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 or animals,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson Friday said he did not immediately know what the data center would be used for or whether AI companies would be among the customers for the site.<\/p>\n

Read more Son of James Handy\u2019s girlfriend is charged with murder in actor\u2019s stabbing death<\/a><\/p>\n

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The zoo says it had 1.4 million visitors last year. Located on a former slave plantation about six miles southeast of downtown, it has more than 3,700 animals representing more than 350 species on 188 acres. It\u2019s managed by a private nonprofit organization on city-owned land.<\/p>\n

Johnston said she did not believe DC BLOX had done much outreach prior to the project becoming public. She said the metropolitan government was also caught off-guard and did not yet have zoning rules or building regulations specific to data centers.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn my opinion, they\u2019ve operated in bad faith, and they\u2019re trying to rush something that they believe Nashville can\u2019t regulate at the moment,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Nashville Mayor Freddie O\u2019Connell has also said he has hesitations but has stopped short of outright opposing the project.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a lot of concerns about the project and have our legal department looking into it,\u201d he told reporters Friday in a briefing, according to a transcript provided by his office.<\/p>\n

Time may be of the essence. The mayor\u2019s office said that the developers had applied for site permits even before DC BLOX closed on its purchase of the property, trying to lock in building rights for the project, and Schwartz said that the purchase was scheduled to close as soon as Monday.<\/p>\n

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DC BLOX said its proposed data center would \u201cnot be an AI factory placing a burden on local resources and is proposed on a site that had previously operated a data center.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom our past projects, as well as the proposed Nashville facility, we commit to using closed-loop or waterless cooling designs to minimize ongoing water use. We commit to the local utility to pay for all power used as well as any new energy infrastructure required to support our project. And we commit to maintaining and testing noise levels to measurable and acceptable levels and adhering to all federal and local environmental requirements,\u201d the company said.<\/p>\n

The zoo\u2019s petition cites several objections to data centers that have been hotly debated nationwide, including their impact on electricity and water resources.<\/p>\n

Schwartz described several concerns about how the data center could potentially affect the zoo\u2019s animals. He said he worries about excessive artificial light hurting their psychological well-beings and about electrical hums and mechanical noises interfering with breeding.<\/p>\n

\u201cI understand the data center may be necessary because of the growth of Nashville. There are better areas to do it instead of next to a zoo and children,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Read more Janet Mills shows no sign of reigniting her Maine Senate bid amid Graham Platner\u2019s troubles<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The zoo this week launched an online petition against the data center that, as of Friday, had more than 180,000 signatures and 25,000 shares on Facebook.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":788,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-789","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-artificial-intelligence"],"yoast_head":"\nLeopards, tigers and AI data, oh my! 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