A new 201-unit apartment complex going up soon in the South Bronx will feature green roofs, a series of gardens in which residents can plant vegetables, solar panels and a rainwater-retention system, officials announced yesterday.

The $99 million Via Verde project in Melrose is targeted at low-income residents as part of Mayor Bloomberg’s plan to create or renovate 165,000 homes for poor and middle-income residents by 2014.

“This is truly a turning point in how we will build affordable housing in our neighborhoods,” said Rep. José Serrano (D-Bronx), one of a half-dozen dignitaries who joined Bloomberg at the groundbreaking for what will become the 100,000th unit in the mayor’s program.

Via Verde is being built on a 1.5-acre former brownfield site at East 156th Street and Brook Avenue.