Birmingham residents expand lawsuit against Nebius AI over data center land deal
Oxmoor Valley residents in Birmingham, Alabama have expanded their lawsuit against the Nebius AI data center. They accuse a web of companies, including developer Nebius, of orchestrating multiple property transactions within 24 hours to artificially inflate the land's value by 385% from $17 million to $83.5 million, allegedly to increase project costs.
Residents of Oxmoor Valley in Birmingham, Alabama, who previously filed a lawsuit to halt the construction of a large Nebius AI data center, have now expanded their legal challenge. The updated lawsuit accuses a network of companies of engaging in a series of property transactions for the Milan Parkway site, where the data center is planned, within a 24-hour period. These transactions allegedly inflated the land's recorded value from $17 million to $83.5 million, a 385% increase, in an attempt to artificially raise the project's perceived land cost.
The lawsuit details how Regions Bank initially sold a piece of property at the development's center for $17 million in late September of the previous year. Within approximately 16 minutes, that property was reportedly resold to another company for $27 million. Subsequently, within the same 24-hour window, this second company allegedly sold the land to a third company for $83.5 million. The plaintiffs contend that these intermediary companies were either controlled by or closely associated with the data center developer, Nebius, suggesting an orchestrated effort to manipulate the land's valuation.