The press conference called by Mayor Zohran Mamdani and MTA Chair Janno Lieber on the disused middle platform of the J and Z Chambers Street subway station Monday morning started late, leaving the assembled city press corps to slowly sweat through their clothes in the stifling subterranean heat.
At least one reporter (me) began to suspect that the entire press conference was in fact a ruse—that we had been lured underground to sweat and suffer as City Hall and our transit overlords made a point.
As it turned out, I was right: the officials were there to announce that the decrepit station, with its peeling paint, chipped tiles, and literal stalactites, will be receiving a full renovation, underwritten in part by congestion pricing revenue. But in addition to the basic facelift, the station will also be the site of a new pilot project to determine the feasibility of using a sophisticated "thermal energy network" to cool hot subway stations, and even use heat from stations to warm nearby buildings in winter. How exactly does this all work? We pressed the MTA for details, but didn't get much back.