Early proposals Proposals for
rapid transit service to the University District date back to the early 20th century. In 1911,
Virgil Bogue proposed an extensive rapid transit system, including an underground subway from
Downtown Seattle and
Eastlake to Latona (the present-day University District), following 10th Avenue Northeast and intersecting an east–west line on Northeast 45th Street. The proposal was rejected by voters the following year. Another proposal in 1920 included a "rapid transit on surface" for Eastlake Avenue, terminating at 14th Avenue NE in the University District; the proposal's recommendation of a subway system was not acted upon by city leaders at the time. The
Forward Thrust plan of the late 1960s proposed building a four-line rapid transit network using $385 million in local funding to augment a larger federal contribution. One of the proposed lines, traveling between Downtown Seattle and
Lake City, included a station at 15th Avenue Northeast and Northeast 45th Street adjacent to the
Burke Museum. The plan was put before voters on two occasions, in February 1968 and May 1970, and failed to gain the needed
supermajority to pass. In the 1990s, the formation of a regional
transit authority (RTA) spurred the planning of a modern
light rail system for Seattle. In 1995, the transit authority proposed a regional light rail system to be built by 2010, including an at-grade or underground light rail line through the University District with a station near
The Ave. The RTA proposal was rejected by voters in March 1995, citing its $6.7 billion price. A smaller, $3.9 billion plan was approved in November 1996, with the University District as its northern terminus; an extension north to Northgate via Roosevelt was
deferred until additional funding could be secured.
Planning The RTA, re-branded as
Sound Transit, selected a preferred route for the light rail line in 1999. The northern terminus was to be an underground station on the east side of 15th Avenue Northeast and Northeast 45th Street with entrances in the Burke Museum parking lot and an adjacent university property; the next station would be at Northeast Pacific Street. The line would travel south via a tunnel under
Portage Bay towards Downtown Seattle and
Rainier Valley, ending at the
Seattle–Tacoma International Airport. Cost over-runs and withheld funding from the federal government led Sound Transit to truncate its initial light rail line to Downtown in 2001, with the segment north to the University District to be built at a later date. In 2004, Sound Transit selected a route for tunneled light rail extensions through
Capitol Hill and the University District and towards
Northgate, using the
Montlake Cut and including a station in the vicinity of Brooklyn Avenue NE and NE 45th Street. Only the southernmost segment of the revised route, from Downtown to
Husky Stadium on the south side of the university campus, was funded initially as the "
University Link Extension". The northern segment to Northgate was split into a separate project, "North Link", and was included on the 2007
Roads and Transit ballot measure, which was put before voters in November 2007. The combined $18 billion proposal was rejected, with environmentalist groups disavowing it over the roadworks portion that sought to expand regional freeways. A second, transit-only measure known as "Sound Transit 2" was approved by voters in November 2008, securing funding for a light rail extension to Northgate. The North Link project was approved by the Sound Transit Board in June 2012, setting a $2.1 billion budget and expected completion date of 2021. The 15th Avenue Northeast site for the University District's station was rejected in favor of an option on Brooklyn Avenue. The placement of the Brooklyn station, either on the north or south side of NE 45th Street, was debated by the Sound Transit Board in 2004. Seattle mayor
Greg Nickels favored a station on the north side, but other boardmembers sided with community and business groups who wanted a site on the south side. The station site was further complicated the following year by
Safeco's decision to expand its
headquarters building on the west side of Brooklyn Avenue NE, impacting staging areas that were selected by Sound Transit. Ultimately, Safeco moved its headquarters to a
downtown building in 2006, and sold the Brooklyn building to the University of Washington, and the staging areas remained available. During the planning process, the station was referred to as "Brooklyn", after the street and historic name of the neighborhood. Sound Transit adopted the name "U District" in 2012, after input from public surveys; the abbreviation of "University" was done to avoid re-using the name alongside the
University of Washington station at Husky Stadium. The agency also received public comments recommending renaming of the
University Street station in Downtown Seattle, to avoid confusion with the stations at U District and University of Washington. University Street station is planned to be renamed to Union Street/Symphony station in 2024 as part of preparations for the opening of the 2 Line.
Construction and opening The contract for tunneling and station construction on the project, since renamed the "
Northgate Link extension", was awarded by Sound Transit to JCM Northlink LLC (a
joint venture of Jay Dee, Coluccio, and Michels) for $462 million in 2013. In May 2013, demolition of an existing
Chase Bank branch and a university-owned property began at the future site of the station. In December, a segment of Brooklyn Avenue NE was closed through the work zone as part of final preparations for the station site. Construction of
shoring walls and drilling of
pilings in the station box was completed from April to August 2014, leading to the start of excavation the following month. By the completion of excavation the following summer, over of dirt was removed from the site to reach a depth of . Concrete pouring of the station box began in July 2015, to prepare for the arrival of two
tunnel boring machines (TBMs). The first of the two TBMs to arrive at U District station was "Brenda" on November 6, 2015, completing the northbound tunnel from Northgate via
Roosevelt station. The second TBM, "Pamela", arrived later than expected on March 25, 2016, after stopping north of the station because of damage to the cutterhead and other parts that forced reduced speed to complete the southbound tunnel. "Brenda", since renamed "TBM #1", finished both of the remaining tunnels to
University of Washington station in March 2016 and September 2016. In March 2017, the Sound Transit Board awarded a $159.8 million contract to
Hoffman Construction to build U District station, including structural and architectural finishes. Station construction began in August 2017 and was scheduled to last until 2020. A design change approved in October 2018 added a set of stairs between the mezzanine and platform due to escalator issues at other stations. Construction of the station was declared substantially complete in February 2021 and street access on Brooklyn Avenue was restored two months later. Light rail service at the station began on October 2, 2021, and was celebrated with a
street fair on Brooklyn Avenue along with live performances and food walk on University Way. The opening of a
bus-only lane on Northeast 43rd Street, serving a bus bay at the station's south entrance, was delayed to June 2022 due to the discovery of underground utilities during construction and supply chain issues. The
2Line entered simulated service on February 14, 2026, with passengers able to board trains from Lynnwood to
International District/Chinatown station. Sound Transit estimates that there will be 12,000 daily boardings at the station in 2030. ==Station layout==