Amazon-Backed Nuclear Energy Firm Moving HQ In 120K SF Deal
A company building nuclear reactors to power Amazon data centers has signed a lease to relocate its headquarters within the Maryland suburbs.
X-energy leased 120K SF at 9801 Washington Blvd. in Gaithersburg, CBRE announced Wednesday. The brokerage firm represented the landlord, Prime US REIT.
The lease represents an expansion from its 96K SF at 530 Gaither Road in Rockville, where it has quickly grown from its initial 48K SF, an X-energy spokesperson told Bisnow.
The company last quarter signed a 24K SF sublease at the Gaither Road building, according to a CBRE market report. But it plans to vacate that building, as well as another office at 801 Thompson Ave. in Rockville, by next summer as it moves to Gaithersburg.
Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich said the company plans to create 525 new jobs over the next six years in the relocation and expansion deal.
“This expansion is a win for our residents, bringing hundreds of good-paying jobs and strengthening our position as a center for innovation in clean energy and advanced technology,” Elrich said in a statement.
X-energy also purchased a property in Frederick, Maryland, where it plans to open a 90K SF nonnuclear test and training facility, it announced Wednesday. It worked with Avison Young on that deal and plans to renovate the property.
The company said it is receiving up to $6.15M in state and local support — in the form of tax credits, loans and grants — for the expansion.
“We look forward to working with Governor [Wes] Moore and his team to build on the state’s long history of nuclear innovation by making Maryland a national leader in next-generation nuclear technology,” X-energy CEO J. Clay Sell said in a statement.
The company's lease in Gaithersburg is for the top five floors of the 325K SF building, bringing it from 46% leased to 90% leased, CBRE said. The building was previously the headquarters of Sodexo before the food services firm moved last year to the Pike & Rose development in North Bethesda.
Prime US REIT, a Singapore-based investor that works with KBS to manage its U.S. portfolio, acquired the building in 2019 for $102M, property records show. It renovated the property after Sodexo's departure and rebranded it as Waterfront at Washingtonian. CBRE's Brian McCarthy, Niel Beggy and Tim Connolly lead the building's leasing efforts.
The building is part of the 1M SF Washingtonian Center complex, which sits just off I-270 and also features a Marriott hotel, an AMC movie theater, Dave & Buster's and other restaurants and retailers.
X-energy in October closed a $500M financing round led by Amazon. The tech giant is working with X-energy to help fuel its rapid data center expansion with small modular nuclear reactors. The companies announced plans to build out 5 gigawatts of capacity by 2039, which they say represents the largest commercial deployment of the emerging technology.
