New permanent Kelso DOL office coming in 2027 following abrupt closure

Five months after the Kelso driver licensing office abruptly closed due to a landlord-tenant dispute, Washington State Department of Licensing officials say they have signed a contract for a new location in a local state-owned building.

Quality journalism doesn't happen without your help

Support local news coverage and the people who report it by subscribing to The Daily News.

The DOL says its full-service replacement is at least another year away, according to spokesman Nate Olson. The new location, however, won't be far from where local motorists are already getting help from traveling DOL staffers through the DOL2Go program.

The new driver licensing office will be located within the local Department of Labor & Industries office building at 711 Vine St. in Kelso.

The building is owned by the state Department of Enterprise Services. According to Department of Enterprise Services spokeswoman Jenn Reynolds, the DOL recently received approval from the state Office of Financial Management to seek out new space within the building.

New DOL office location on Vine Street

The entrance to the Washington State Department of Labor & Industries building at 711 Vine St. is shown in this photo taken April 20. The state Department of Licensing has signed a contract to open a permanent office within the state-owned building near the intersection of Eighth and Vine streets opening late next year.

State-owned building

Kelso lost its permanent driver licensing office on Dec. 17, with the abrupt closure of its office in the Wilco shopping center.

According to an email from Reynolds at the Department of Enterprise Services, the DOL and the private landlord agreed to terminate the Wilco shopping center lease 15 months early "due to persistent roof leaks." News reports at the time stated that the roof leak purportedly caused moisture to build up in the office's break room.

Leading up to the closure, the Kelso DOL office was the sixth busiest driver licensing office in the state.

This time, instead of a private landlord, the DOL will be working with another state agency. Cowlitz County Assessor's Office property records show that the building has belonged to the Department of Enterprise Services since 2023.

The Kelso building is also the site of a Community Services Office for the State Department and Social Health Services and a Child Protective Services office for the state Department of Children, Youth and Families.

New driver licensing office location in Kelso

The Washington State Department of Licensing has secured space within this government building at 711 Vine St. in Kelso. It will replace the driver licensing office in the Wilco shopping center, which closed abruptly on Dec. 17 due to a landlord-tenant dispute.

Olson told The Daily News in an email Friday that the state agency had recently signed a contract to install a permanent DOL office at the location.

Reynolds at the Department of Enterprise Services said construction on the new office is slated to be finished by the end of June, while Olson at the DOL anticipated that the new driver licensing office would open late next year.

"We don't yet have an expected date to open the new office, but we anticipate it could take 12 to 18 months to complete the renovation," Olson said.

According to Kelso Building and Planning Department records, the latest building permit at the location was issued March 18 for heating, ventilation and air conditioning work for a new partition wall being installed in an existing office space.

Mobile DOL events

When: DOL2Go events are open 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Thursdays and 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Fridays.

Where: 711 Vine St. in Kelso.

Info: dol.wa.gov. The DOL encourages those having difficulty finding appointments to check the website on Friday evenings, when new appointment slots for the week ahead populate on the website.

The DOL2Go events have some limitations compared to the in-person services offered at standard DOL driver licensing offices. For instance, no skills tests are conducted at DOL2Go events, and the traveling staff is only equipped to take credit or debit card payments.

More than 1,900 credentials issued in Kelso this year

Another benefit of the new location is that the L&I building on Vine Street has already been where the agency has held DOL2Go mobile events two days a week, almost every week since February, according to earlier news reports.

After the Wilco shopping center location closed, the DOL held a handful of events at the Kelso library inside the mall in January before moving to the L&I building the following month.

Behind the scenes, the DOL was working to create a temporary space in the Vine Street building to accommodate DOL2Go until the permanent office space was completed, with minimal disruption to the other state agencies on site.

Olson said that the DOL2Go team has helped 2,462 individuals and issued 1,901 credentials since the first DOL2Go event was held at the mall Jan. 13 through Friday, April 18. Olson told The Daily News that the DOL plans to keep sending traveling DOL staff to Kelso on Thursdays and Fridays until the permanent location opens.

Copyright 2026 Tribune Content Agency. All Rights Reserved.