The BART Board approved the name "El Cerrito del Norte" in December 1965. El Cerrito del Norte station opened on January 29, 1973 when service began between
MacArthur station and
Richmond station. As with
El Cerrito Plaza station, the escalator walls feature tile mosaics by Alfonso Pardiñas.
Seismic retrofitting of the parking garage took place in 2010. A 2004 study recommending expanding the station paid area, platforms, and vertical logistics (more stairs and elevators within the paid area) to allow more passengers to use the station and decrease dwelling times during congested alighting times. Conceptual plans for modernization of the two El Cerrito stations were released in December 2013. By 2017 the station had more than 9,000 passengers boarding per weekday, exceeding its design capacity. BART awarded the construction contract for the $33.9 million station expansion that February, with an expected completion in May 2019. The expanded paid area, new elevators and stairs, and updated bus boarding area were completed in February 2021. The second phase of the renovation, which included new restrooms and a new busway, was completed on March 29, 2021. It also included the installation of
El Cerrito Homes, two porcelain tile murals by artist Kyungmi Shin. BART developed a station improvement plan in 2004 to create a
transit village in the surrounding area. with the reservation that the development must be appropriately scaled. , BART anticipates soliciting developer proposals by 2028. ==Bus connections==