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THE first-ever residential development in science hub one-north, tentatively named One Rochester Park, will be launched around Chinese New Year - and the project is expected to benefit from the new-found buzz of the Rochester Park area.

One Rochester Park: Most of the apartments in the project will be two-bedroom and three-bedroom units

The 368-unit development is right next door to the up-and-coming Rochester Park, a dining and retail enclave set against a rustic backdrop of undulating grounds and green canopies.

The project is developed by United Engineers (UE), which last year secured the public-private partnership (PPP) project to build a business hotel and mixed development in one-north from JTC Corporation.

Most of the apartments in the project will be 1,200 square feet two-bedroom and 1,500 sq ft three-bedroom units.

Separately, UE will also be building 250 hotel rooms and 120 serviced residence units.

The whole mixed development is designed by Tange & Associates, headed by the son of the late Kenzo Tange, who designed UE's flagship development UE Square about a decade ago.

Said UE: 'The design of one-north, of which the mixed development forms a part, is a self-contained concept - eat, live and play.

'It promotes the exchange of ideas and interflow of traffic, and as such does not promote boundaries between land use - and hence little or no use of fences.'

Market watchers said that it is hard to predict the launch price for the development as the concept is new.

UE has previously said that prices could start at about $550 per sq ft, but with the upward trend in property prices over the past few months, the launch price should be well above that when the time comes.

Prices will also be boosted by the area's new-found fame - it is fast becoming known for its F&B outlets housed in atmospheric colonial bungalows. UE gained two such bungalows when acquiring the site, which will soon be leased out to F&B tenants.

One Rochester Park is UE's first wholly owned residential project since the company successfully launched its apartments at UE Square a decade ago. Then, at the height of the property boom, units were sold out within a day, said the company.

Since then, while UE has taken stakes in other residential projects, it has focused on its core business of engineering and construction.

In a recent interview with BT, UE's chief executive Jackson Yap said that he was especially interested in working on more PPP projects with JTC.

UE's managing director David Liew said the company might also look into participating in the request for proposals (RFPs) to build Phase 2B of the cutting-edge science and engineering R&D hub Fusionopolis in one-north, after JTC said it will launch an RFP next year for private developers to build the project.