The transit center opened in June 1992 as a major hub for North Seattle buses and was prioritized as a light rail terminus during planning later in the decade.

To the west of the freeway is the North Seattle College campus, connected via the John Lewis Memorial Bridge to the station's mezzanine level.

[5] It featured several passenger amenities, including public restrooms, pay phones, an ORCA card vending machine, bicycle parking, and a baby changing station.

[21] Absher Construction was awarded a $174 million contract in August 2016 to build Northgate station and the elevated guideway leading to the tunnel portal.

[34] The public restrooms at the station's mezzanine level were closed in mid-2022 due to vandalism and security incidents; they were replaced by portable toilets for a year while undergoing renovations.

[47] The larger mural spans 100 feet (30 m) above the platform's west clerestory and a smaller companion is located in the north stairwell;[48][49] both were produced by German glassmakers Franz Mayer of Munich.

[50] Cris Bruch created two new sculptures for the station's plaza and north entrance to complement his earlier work at the original transit center.

The plaza work is a 23-foot (7.0 m) steel sculpture with nine "trunks" with clusters of aluminum "blossoms" that hang from their curved branches, while the north entrance has several polyhedrons mounted to the screen wall on the station's façade.

[51][52] The John Lewis Memorial Bridge is an overpass for pedestrians and bicycles crossing Interstate 5, connecting the mezzanine of Northgate station to the North Seattle College campus and Licton Springs neighborhood.

[33] The bridge is 1,900 feet (580 m) long, with a 1,338-foot (408 m) main span over the freeway using a Vierendeel truss and a ramp connecting to a protected cycletrack at street level on 1st Avenue Northeast.

Congressman John Lewis of Georgia by the Seattle City Council in August 2021 to recognize his civil rights activism amid criticism for not choosing a local namesake.

[53][63] The main Vierendeel truss span was originally planned to use a proprietary lighting system for the handrails until the initial bids were $8 million over the estimated budget, leading to a redesign.

[66][67] In anticipation of light rail construction, the area around Northgate Mall was identified by the city as an "urban village" in 1993,[68] with heavy potential for transit-oriented development.

[68] In 2009, one of the mall's surface parking lots was converted into a mixed-use, transit-oriented development called "Thornton Place", with 109 condominiums, 278 apartments (including affordable units), a movie theater, and 50,000 square feet (4,600 m2) of retail space.

[73] Simon Property Group announced a major redevelopment plan for Northgate Mall in 2018, proposing the addition of office space and 1,200 apartment units on the 55-acre (22 ha) site.

[78] Northgate station is served by the 1 Line, which runs between Lynnwood, the University of Washington campus, Downtown Seattle, the Rainier Valley, and Seattle–Tacoma International Airport.

[79] The station is also a major hub for buses in North Seattle with routes operated by King County Metro and Sound Transit Express.

[40][81] From 2021 to 2024, Northgate station was also the terminus of several express routes from Snohomish County that had previously served Downtown Seattle and the University of Washington campus.

[34][82] Community Transit truncated its entire University District commuter network to Northgate station when it opened, providing peak-only service to Lynnwood, Edmonds, Mukilteo, Everett, and Marysville.

[88][89] A second corridor, later named the RapidRide J Line, was originally scheduled to open in 2021 and planned to connect Northgate and Roosevelt to the University District, Eastlake and South Lake Union neighborhoods.

[90] The project was scaled back to terminate near U District station due to budget shortfalls resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, which caused a reduction in ridership and tax revenue, and completion was delayed to 2027.