On January 31st, the Oregon Driver and Motor Vehicles (DMV) department will permanently close its Mall 205 DMV location at 9910 SE Washington Street. In a posted notice, DMV representatives explained that finding a replacement location could take over a year. Until then, they will reassign the Mall 205 location’s 18 employees to nearby DMV offices to handle the expected increase in activity at the remaining Portland area DMV facilities.
The Mall 205 DMV opened in 2015 and is one of the only remaining interior-accessed storefronts in that complex. Rhino Investments Group purchased the shopping center in early 2022 and ended leases for a majority of tenants in March 2022. The new Mall owners are actively reconfiguring the building for larger retail clients with dedicated front entrances that do not rely on the legacy interior hallways. DMV customers accessed the office through a back entrance on the south side of the shopping mall building, which led visitors down an unmarked hallway to find their destination. One other business used the back parking lot for access during the reconfiguration. However, in May 2023, Mall 205’s 24 Hour Fitness location closed permanently, making the DMV the last tenant accessed from that side of the property.
According to the DMV’s posted closure notice, building maintenance issues prompted the department’s decision not to renew the lease at Mall 205. A Rhino spokesperson explained they worked early on to remedy heating and cooling issues experienced by the DMV and developed a 2025 plan to create a permanent solution for the space if the DMV remained a tenant. More recently, vandalism on the property interrupted the DMV unit’s water service and forced the Mall’s public restroom to close. “The majority of the recent water-related problems the DMV experienced stem from repeated break-ins from the city’s homeless population, during which copper piping was stolen, and facilities were significantly damaged. This caused intermittent service interruptions,” wrote the Rhino spokesperson in an email interview with Montavilla News. The group decided to close the public restrooms due to repeated misuse and to promote safety for people visiting the property. The common-area restrooms were leftover from the Mall’s former configuration, and the Rhino spokesperson noted the group is not obligated to provide those facilities. Each tenant in Mall 205 has dedicated restroom facilities within their units.
The DMV’s lease expires on February 28th, and despite reported months-long efforts to find a new location, they could not secure a suitable alternative and chose to close one of the DMV’s busiest offices. In 2024, the Mall 205 DMV served around 95,000 customers, updating vehicle registration and obtaining driver’s licenses or identification (ID) cards.
This closure comes ahead of the May 7th federal requirement that everyone 18 years and older present a REAL ID, or a federally accepted alternative, to board a flight within the U.S. or to access certain federal facilities. REAL ID-compliant Oregon-issued ID cards and driver’s licenses have a star in the upper right corner. Air travelers without that indicator will need to visit the DMV soon. Individuals wanting to update to a REAL ID or use any other DMV services should use the Southeast Portland DMV at 8710 SE Powell Boulevard or another conveniently located office.
Rhino Investments Group had anticipated the DMV’s continued participation in Mall 205’s transformation to an exteriorly accessed shopping complex. “We regret that the Oregon DMV has chosen to leave Mall 205. We had already designed around the DMV premises with the Burlington lease, as we anticipated to retain the DMV at the property,” wrote the Rhino spokesperson. They now plan to renovate the former DMV office to incorporate the remaining indoor mall space into a single leasable unit with its entrance on the southern side of the building. Construction on the 1970-era Mall should begin again as the city approves permits and more tenants sign leases.
