Hixson Data Center, McMinnville, Tennessee

The Hixson Data Center, a planned 25-megawatt AI data center in McMinnville, Warren County, Tennessee, cannot move forward for now after the city passed an 18-month moratorium on data center permits in June 2026. Its development director, McMinnville resident Alex Hixson, did not respond to questions about the project after the vote, the Tennessee Lookout reported.

The project was announced in late May 2026 as a 96,065-square-foot, two-level campus built for Nvidia GB200 NVL72 systems, due to open in the first quarter of 2028. The developer said it was still seeking financing and a single tenant for all 25MW.

It plans to run off the grid, with 30 MW of guaranteed power from Bloom Energy fuel cells running on natural gas, eight 4.4 MW diesel generators and a 25 MW battery system, according to the project's website. The website says the site is already owned and is industrial land next to transportation corridors and a railroad spur.

Residents organized within days. A petition calling for a 12-month moratorium on new AI and large-scale data center approvals gathered more than 2,600 signatures, saying "This request is not about opposing technology or economic development." One signer wrote that "this town may never recover" if it went ahead. McMinnville resident Kai Sage, who lives near the planned site, said developers were targeting smaller places in Tennessee "because our land is so cheap, our laws are so lenient, the income isn't taxed like it is anywhere else."

Sage told the Tennessee Lookout the city of 14,000, known for its plant nurseries, is not built for this kind of industry, citing electricity demand, water use, pollution and noise.

WSMV noted that a new state law making data centers pay for their power infrastructure applies only to facilities with a peak demand of at least 50 megawatts, so a 25 MW project may fall outside it. The Tennessee Lookout reported that the same law lets data centers generate their own power, with gas turbines for example, without state or local oversight.

The McMinnville Board of Mayor and Aldermen voted unanimously for the moratorium, which halts the acceptance and approval of land use, zoning, building, site plan and conditional use applications for data centers. "A moratorium is not a permanent ban. It is a responsible time-out," City Administrator Nolan Ming said. Any future data center will have to supply studies on infrastructure, environment, sound and utilities, and the city says the pause can be extended. No one from the Hixson Data Center attended the meeting.

Nearby, Coffee County passed its own moratorium the same day, and Warren County commissioners passed their own moratorium on June 23. Nashville's council also advanced a moratorium bill in June.

For the next 18 months the decision sits with the McMinnville Board of Mayor and Aldermen, which will use the time to rewrite its zoning and land use rules before any data center application can be accepted.