The city has notched a win in court against Atlanta-based digital infrastructure company DC BLOX, the developer behind a controversial data center proposed for the property right next door to the Nashville Zoo.
On Oct. 6, U.S. District Judge Eli Richardson issued an opinion broadly dismissing all of the company’s claims, at least for now.
“Plaintiff may believe, and is entitled to believe and contend, that it received a raw deal from (or was sandbagged by), the imposition of the moratorium after it purchased the property,” Richardson’s opinion reads. “However, a raw deal or sandbagging — real or imagined, without more — does not a federal lawsuit make.”
DC BLOX filed the lawsuit Aug. 11 in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee,
alleging that city officials deliberately blocked the project despite a determination that it had a vested right to move forward.
About a month earlier, the Metro Nashville Council took its final votes implementing new zoning regulations for data centers and a moratorium halting any new data center development through Dec. 1. The DC BLOX suit, in part, challenged the moratorium and sought to force the city to resume processing development permits for the proposed development.
The city, meanwhile, argued the lawsuit should be dismissed in its entirety. Richardson appears to have agreed, though the judge left the door open for DC BLOX to file an amended complaint reasserting its claims in the next 21 days.
“I am pleased with the ruling and remain confident that Metro has acted lawfully in its dealings with DC BLOX and in the enactment of the moratorium on data center permitting,” Metro Director of Law Tyler Yarbro said in a statement Oct. 7.
Representatives with DC BLOX and its legal team had not responded to The Tennessean’s request for comment on the ruling as of 4:30 p.m. Oct. 7.
Austin Hornbostel is the Metro reporter for The Tennessean. Have a question about local government you want an answer to? Reach him with questions, tips and story ideas at ahornbostel@tennessean.com.
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This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Nashville wins key court fight over data center planned next to zoo
