Developer proposes 10‑story King Square mixed‑income housing at 222 East Third Street

Mastermind representatives presented a conceptual plan to the Mount Vernon City Council for a roughly 10‑story, mixed‑income apartment building called King Square at 222 East Third Street.

The project team, represented by Ron Shulman of Best Development Group and Radame Perez, principal of Mastermind, described an approximately 225–226 unit building with ground‑floor retail, below‑grade parking and community space. Shulman said the design would include green building measures, onsite retail and a mix of unit sizes and incomes.

The presentation matters because the site is in a highly visible area adjacent to a small park and an underpass; the developer said the project would add significant housing and would require coordination on zoning, parking and potential public‑infrastructure issues. The meeting produced detailed questions from council members about parking ratios, unit sizes, financing and whether the project could be built “as of right” under the city’s MX‑1 zoning.

According to the developer, the building would be roughly 10 stories with about 226 apartments and a mix of studios, one‑, two‑ and three‑bedrooms. The team provided these preliminary unit size averages: studio about 460–461 sq. ft.; one‑bedroom about 625 sq. ft.; two‑bedroom about 800 sq. ft.; and three‑bedroom about 925 sq. ft. The proposed unit distribution the team described was 17 studios, 83 one‑bedrooms, 108…