Prime US REIT Lands 120K-SF Lease With Nuclear Engineering Firm in Maryland
The tenant X-Energy is expanding in the region after also purchasing a 90K-SF facility nearby.
By Nick Trombola July 31, 2025 12:45 pm
reprints
Prime US REIT has found a radioactive new tenant to take over Sodexo’s former headquarters on the outskirts of the DMV.
The Singaporean landlord and real estate investment trust inked a 120,000-square-foot office deal with X-Energy, a private nuclear reactor and fuel design engineering firm, in an expansion lease at the REIT’s Waterfront at Washingtonian complex in Gaithersburg, Md. The space, which had housed food services and facility management company Sodexo for decades, will serve as X-Energy’s new headquarters.
CBRE’s Brian McCarthy, Niel Beggy and Tim Connolly represented the landlord in the deal. X-Energy’s lease, along with several others recently closed by Prime US REIT, brings the property from 40 percent leased up to 90 percent leased, per CBRE. X-Energy’s new office is a sizable expansion from its previous 96,000-square-foot space at 530 Gaither Road, in nearby Rockville, Md.
Prime, which in 2019 acquired Waterfront at Washingtonian as part of a $1.2 billion office portfolio deal with a KBS affiliate, renovated and rebranded the property following Sodexo’s departure in 2023. KBS was retained by Prime to manage the property.
“The newly rebranded and renovated Waterfront at Washingtonian is now positioned as one of the best business addresses in all of Montgomery County, with an address amidst Rio Lakefront, a dynamic mixed-use center featuring various dining, entertainment, shopping, and hotel options,” McCarthy said in a statement.
The 325,455-square-foot office, at 9801 Washingtonian Boulevard, is part of The Washingtonian Center, a 1 million-square-foot, mixed-use complex which also features a Marriott hotel and AMC movie theater.
X-Energy’s move is part of the firm’s broader expansion in the region, following the closure of its Amazon-led, $500 million fundraising campaign last October. The nuclear engineering firm will help power Amazon’s vast pool of data centers with small modular nuclear reactors, with 5 megawatts of power from the reactors coming online by 2039, according to the firms.
Alongside its lease with Prime US REIT, X-Energy also recently purchased an undisclosed, 90,000-square-foot property in Rockville, which will house a non-nuclear test and training facility.
“X-energy’s expansion in Montgomery and Frederick counties is an investment in Maryland and in our state’s vital energy and sustainability sector,” Maryland Gov. Wes Moore said in a statement.
Nick Trombola can be reached at ntrombola@commercialobserver.com.
