Jimmy White and Rodney ‘Darkchild’ Jerkins, Multi-grammy-winning and diamond record-selling music producer, Songwriter Hall of Fame, meet at The Bend
Years of exploration and collaboration among real estate, technology, and entertainment industry leaders have led to the official creation of Jailhouse Studios, an entity that will call Hamilton County’s former downtown jail home to the world’s first quantum-ready sovereign data, processing, and AI center and creator campus, officials said.
The group said Jailhouse Studios “is positioned at the intersection of cutting-edge technology and creative production and is designed to serve the next generation of film, music, and digital media – combining secure data infrastructure, AI-enabled workflows, and world-class production facilities under one roof.
“Among a lengthy list of world-renowned, critically acclaimed artists, producers, and national and international technology leaders, Chattanooga visionaries Jimmy White and Kessler Cuffman are spearheading the initiative, positioning the Scenic City as a national hub for technology-enabled creative production while creating long-term economic and educational opportunities for the region.”
Mr. White, president and managing partner of Southeast commercial real estate developer Urban Story Ventures, will redevelop the former downtown jail into an epicenter for music, film, production, and education. Originally the Bijou Theatre, the site was later converted into a jail that served the community for decades. Today, its structure and design potential make it uniquely suited for secure data, processing, AI, and creative production under one roof, according to Mr. White, who is known for reimagining older properties for their highest and best use.
“The idea of Jailhouse Studios came as a solution to a need we’ve been trying to meet for years,” said Mr. Cuffman, executive officer for the Songbirds Foundation. “While this facility will be positioned for production work at the highest level, the original vision was born out of workforce development and job creation for students local to Chattanooga. This will be a vessel for production excellence and a source of real, lasting impact for our community.”
As a stepping stone to a larger mixed-use development known as The Bend, Jailhouse Studios will renovate the former jail to include secure data and AI infrastructure, film and recording studios, LED volumes, an amphitheater, cafeteria, artist lofts, and classroom space – bringing hundreds of jobs to Chattanooga while creating new educational and professional pathways for students, it was stated.
To support the advanced technical requirements of the campus, Urban Story Ventures is working with Golden Acquisitions and The STEM Practice Company “STEM, an Oracle partner specializing in sovereign, quantum-ready data storage, processing, and AI infrastructure, regarding the deployment of advanced technology capabilities in Chattanooga.
Through STEM’s collaboration with Centroid and Oracle, the project will become one of the first in the region to integrate all three of EPB’s major services: quantum-ready security and communications, the world’s fastest community-wide internet, and electric power delivered through one of the nation’s most advanced automated grids, officials said.
Officials said, “The Chattanooga data centers are architected specifically for the entertainment industry, delivering studio-grade security, privacy-first AI governance, and high-performance computing to support workflows such as real-time rendering, AI-assisted production, model training, and intellectual property protection. Each studio, production, or project operates within a fully segregated and secure environment, ensuring creative assets, talent data, and unreleased content remain private and encrypted. Customer content is not used to train shared or public AI models.
“The data centers are environmentally friendly by design, leveraging a distributed architecture and advanced CPU-optimized AI software to dramatically reduce energy use, heat generation, and resource consumption. By spreading compute across many smaller sites, each facility operates at just 1–5% of the power required by a traditional large-scale data center while delivering comparable computing capability. Rather than relying solely on power-hungry, high-temperature GPUs, they use specialized optimization software and in-database machine learning to enable high-performance AI workloads. This approach reduces energy consumption by 75–90 percent, produces far less heat, and eliminates the need for water-intensive cooling systems. The result is a significantly lower carbon footprint, reduced strain on the electric grid, and a more sustainable, scalable model for AI and data center operations that aligns with long-term environmental and infrastructure goals.”
Mr. White has been working closely with Dan Kretz, president of Optic8 and Trilogy Studios, for the studio and production spaces at both the jail and The Bend. Mr. Kretz and his team design and build virtual content environments for film, television, and commercial production markets around the world.
Mr. Kretz said, “Chattanooga stands as a rare unicorn in the production landscape, ideally located between Atlanta and Nashville – two of the nation’s most influential creative hubs. Leveraging the groundbreaking capabilities of EPB and technologies deployed through STEM, these will become the world’s first quantum-ready studios. We are thrilled to collaborate with this forward-thinking city to help shape the next era of technology-enabled creative production.”
The team supporting Jailhouse Studios includes internationally recognized talent with deep ties to Chattanooga, including A-List celebrities, Rodney ‘Darkchild’ Jerkins, Khari ‘Needlz’ Cain, Dan Kretz, Adam Dukes, Don Mandrik, Bryce McGuire, and Isaiah Smallman. Collectively, they have worked on major films, music videos, and projects for labels such as Warner Music, Sony Music, and Universal Music Group. One of the most recent major productions is DOLLY, the first feature-length film fully shot in Chattanooga, and it went on to receive major distribution. White says future feature films and other major projects are already eyeing Jailhouse Studios for immediate production.
Urban Story Ventures will lead the renovation alongside architects, designers, engineers, and contractors. The project will move forward with a technology anchor utilizing Oracle-based infrastructure. STEM would serve as the Oracle partner, working closely with EPB to outfit the building for the first quantum-ready sovereign data, processing, and AI facility of its kind.
“There’s nothing like it,” said Mr. White. “Chattanooga will be in the global spotlight for technology and entertainment like never before. This initiative is bigger than any single company. It’s about creating infrastructure that allows creators, technologists, and students to build their futures right here at home.”
Kessler Cuffman, Grammy-nominated educator, music producer, and executive officer of the Songbirds Foundation and partners visit with Optic8 at Trilogy Studios
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.chattanoogan.com ’
