The nonprofit Breaking Ground is one step closer to opening its brand-new affordable housing building at 626 Bergen Ave. in Melrose.

On Tuesday, the final floor of the building opened up.

There will be 160 units in the building reserved for the formerly homeless or low-income New Yorkers.

Studio apartments will have their own bathrooms and kitchenettes. Residents will also have access to laundry, computer and multipurpose activity rooms.

Units not reserved for formerly homeless tenants will be awarded through a lottery system that will open up within the next few months for those making 60 percent of the area's median income.

Dr. Rosa Gil is the president of Comunilife, Inc., which will run a health clinic on the ground floor of the building. She says she's delighted to be able to help what she calls a neglected community.

"Basically it's doing the right thing for the people of New York -- especially in the Bronx," she says.