ODOT building lease latest effort to consolidate space, save money
 Some Oregon Parks and Recreation Department staff to move into vacant space in ODOT headquarters this fall
Contact: Katherine Benenati, 503-871-0388
Aug. 26, 2026
SALEM – This fall, ODOT will begin leasing space on the first floor of its headquarters on Salem’s Capitol Mall to the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department. The move is the latest effort ODOT has taken to consolidate office space. The efforts are saving roughly $6 million a budget cycle.
“This move is a win for both agencies,” ODOT Interim Director Chris Warner said. “We’re looking everywhere we can to be more efficient and cut costs as transportation agencies across Oregon face flattening gas tax revenues and rising costs.”
Over the last six years, ODOT has consolidated space to reduce leases and the expenses that come with them. In 2020, ODOT had 16 office leases for facilities around the state. To date, ODOT has ended nine of those and will be ending another in December 2026, reducing its leased space by 222,000 square feet.
In addition, since 2020, ODOT has leased out ODOT-owned space totaling over 19,000 square feet to five other state agencies. Between consolidating space and leasing out excess space, ODOT has reduced its office space by about 242,000 square feet, or roughly 20%.
ODOT plans to evaluate its larger office buildings, looking for more opportunities to consolidate its workforce and free up space to lease to other state agencies. However, many of the buildings ODOT owns, such as sheds, scale houses, and maintenance bays, are not suitable for lease to others.
For Oregon Parks and Recreation Department, the move to the ODOT headquarters building will allow them to work in a more modern space and move their headquarters closer to the Capitol while saving them around $250,000 per budget cycle.
“We’re excited to relocate our Salem office into the heart of State Capitol State Park,” said OPRD Director Lisa Sumption. “This move saves money we can reinvest in Oregon’s state parks, and ODOT has been a great partner throughout the process.”
This lease, which will generate about $675,000 in income for ODOT each two-year budget cycle, helps further ODOT’s efforts to use space more wisely and save money on facilities costs. Discussions on the move began last fall. OPRD will begin moving into the building in September and the 10-year lease will officially start Nov. 1.
Because of a structural revenue issue caused by flattening gas taxes, inflation, and legal restrictions on available funding, ODOT has reduced spending by about $500 million since 2019 to stay within available funding. Some of these savings have come from efficiencies like consolidating office spaces. Other examples include increasing self-services options at DMV and for truck drivers and shifting service center hours to reduce staffing during hours with lower call volumes.
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