Fisk University President Agenia Clark on Thursday announced a $900 million plan to remake the historically Black university’s North Nashville campus, complete with a 100,000-square-foot data and technology center. Details remain limited as the 160-year-old university, once home to civil rights luminaries like John Lewis and Ida B. Wells, embarks on the project, dubbed Quantum Leap. Fisk plans to renovate three residence halls and build at least five major projects: the data center, an annex for the John Lewis Center for Social Justice, a 120,000-square-foot sports arena, a 45,000-square foot student center and an 80,000-square-foot annex to the Carl Van Vechten Gallery.Fisk is submitting the proposal to Metro for approval, Clark said. The push comes amid a groundswell of opposition to data centers around the country, with residents expressing concerns about air and water quality, strain on power infrastructure and noise. More than 70 percent of Americans oppose constructing data centers for artificial intelligence in their community, according to newly released Gallup polling. “If, along the way, we had identified instances where a project of this nature would do harm, we wouldn’t be here today,” Clark told reporters after the announcement, adding that the theme of the project is “do no harm.”Asked whether Fisk has a partner for the data center, Clark said she is “not in a position to talk about that today.”Don Hardin, owner of project and construction management firm Don Hardin Group and a partner on the Fisk project, said the team studied the impacts of data centers across the country “because we want to make sure we do it right.”He said that Nashville Electric Service has assured the group that there is sufficient capacity to handle the data center’s electricity needs without increasing power bills for neighbors. Hardin also said the data center, at 30 megawatts, will be “fairly small” compared to other centers.
