Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell on Monday confirmed his plan to use eminent domain to condemn and acquire property near the Nashville Zoo at Grassmere for public uses, including offices for Metro, the Nashville Fire Department, and the Nashville Department of Transportation and Multimodal Infrastructure (NDOT).
News first emerged early on Monday that the mayor was planning to use eminent domain in response to the data center planned near the zoo, and by the end of the day, O’Connell released a statement listing his concerns about the data center and announcing his administration’s plans for the property.
“I’m filing condemnation legislation that would allow Metro to acquire the property next to the zoo for public use,” said O’Connell. “With the closure of the Metro Southeast Campus, and growing needs at NDOT and the Fire Department, we’ve identified a variety of needs for this site.”
Despite stifling a business deal that is reportedly already under contract, O’Connell said that his decision is not anti-growth.
“Nashville will continue to grow, and that’s a good thing. The growth should reflect our values. We can support economic development while also making smart choices about the highest and best use of our land,” said the mayor.
The city has previously employed eminent domain in high-profile projects, including Metro’s acquisition of downtown parcels and buildings for the construction of the Music City Center in 2009, when the Metro Council authorized plans for the Convention Center Project that included the use of eminent domain.
If the Metro Council passes O’Connell’s legislation, or an amended version approved by the mayor, Nashville will gain the authority to designate properties for Metro to acquire “by negotiation or condemnation.”
Metro would then likely negotiate with MarketStreet, the company that currently owns the property near the zoo and is reportedly working to sell it to the data center company, DC BLOX. Should the negotiations fail and Metro file a condemnation petition, MarketStreet would have 30 days to object to the process through a legal challenge.
An examination of one case from the acquisition of properties necessary to build the Music City Center suggests the process could ultimately last years.
In that case, the Metro Development and Housing Agency first filed its condemnation petition in Davidson County Circuit Court against Nashville Downtown Platinum, LLC in October 2009. The court agreed to the order in February 2010, transferring the property to Metro and compensating the property owners with about $1.8 million.
However, both Metro and the property owners requested a jury of view, or a specialized jury, to review matters typically pertaining to eminent domain and to assess compensation. The jury raised the compensation to just over $2.3 million in January 2015.
The property owners next pursued their right to a second jury trial to set compensation by the same court, which lowered the compensation to about $2 million in an August 2016 determination.
Nashville Downtown Platinum’s next request was that the case be retried before a regular jury. The court declined, prompting the company to appeal to the Tennessee Court of Appeals at Nashville, which affirmed the lower court’s decision in December 2017.
The company’s application for permission to appeal to the Tennessee Supreme Court was denied in March 2018, meaning the period from the Metro Council’s approval of the resolution to the conclusion of the judicial process was nearly 9 years.
O’Connell’s plan to use eminent domain to stop the construction of a data center comes amid caution toward the emerging sector in Tennessee, including Hawkins County, which recently secured representation from environmental advocacy attorneys at the Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC).
The SPLC is also involved in litigation against xAI, the artificial intelligence (AI) company founded by Elon Musk, over its operations in Mississippi that support the company’s supercomputer in Memphis.
Watch the mayor’s full statement:
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Tom Pappert is a 2025 recipient of the Dao Prize and the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star. He also reports for the Star News Network. Follow Tom on X. Email tips to [email protected].
