National homebuilder DRB Group is relocating its headquarters within Montgomery County's I-270 corridor — and growing its footprint in the process.

The company leased 56K SF at Principal Asset Management’s Summit at Washingtonian property in Gaithersburg, the landlord’s broker, Transwestern, announced Thursday.

The move represents a 16K SF expansion from DRB's 40K SF at 2099 Gaither Road in Rockville. That building, owned by Monday Properties, is roughly a mile from the homebuilder's new headquarters.

The Gaithersburg building, spanning 193K SF at 9711 Washingtonian Blvd., was built in 2009.

DRB plans to move 200 employees to the building in the third quarter of next year. Its in-house title company and design studio are also moving to the building.

“Their decision to lease space with us for their corporate headquarters is a strong vote of confidence in our property and the community,” Principal Asset Management Managing Director Troy Koerselman said in a news release.

DRB’s headquarters move follows its absorption of another homebuilding company in April. Its parent company, Sumitomo Forestry America, consolidated its Brightland Homes subsidiary under DRB, taking DRB’s previously East Coast footprint national by expanding into Texas, Arizona, Colorado and Tennessee, plus adding Jacksonville to its Florida markets.

With the merger, DRB now has 1,600 employees working across 14 states.

DRB President and CEO Ronny Salameh said the new headquarters will “serve as an innovative hub to support our employees and customers as we build communities nationwide in partnership with Sumitomo Forestry America.”

Transwestern’s Keith Foery, Phil McCarthy and Guy Copperthite represented the landlord, and CBRE’s Dan Falls represented DRB Group.