MARSHALL — A housing development project in Tracy is taking shape with the help of Tracy Area High School students and a local contractor, Tracy city representatives said this week.

On Tuesday, Tom Dobson and Jeff Carpenter gave Lyon County Commissioners an update on construction of a new house on Second Street East in Tracy. The project is a partnership between the city of Tracy, the Tracy Economic Development Authority and the Tracy Area School District.

Earlier this year, the project received $100,000 in American Rescue Plan Act funding as “seed money.”

“Through the program that you pretty much jump-started, we are at a stage now where the exterior roof is going on, the sheathing, we hope to get that sealed up,” said Dobson, the Tracy community development director. “And I guess our primary purpose . . . would be to come and just thank each of you for trusting us and for investing in this program.”

Dobson said so far, invoices of $104,027 had been submitted for the project. A construction class being taught by contractor Karl Campbell at TAHS framed the house, while contracted plumbers and electricians also worked on the building.

The development project got started this spring, with a proposal from the EDA and city of Tracy to build a total of three new houses in the southern part of Tracy. Two lots would be donated to United Community Action Partnership to build new homes as part of a grant program. The third lot was an opportunity to partner with Tracy schools, Dobson said.

“It’s been interesting starting a program like this,” he said. He said the instructors and administration at TAHS were good to work with, in scheduling time for students to work on the job site.

“I’m actually very pleased with the progress where they’re at right now, and actually the quality too,” Dobson said. “It looks like it’s going very, very well. It’s been an incentive for several of the students. If their grades aren’t up there, they can’t go out. And that might be the best motivator for a few of these guys, because they do like getting out of school and going out to the job site.”

The two homes being built by UCAP are also under construction and making progress, Dobson and Carpenter said.

Dobson said Tracy and TAHS hope to continue the building trade program in the future.

“We feel that this is going to be an ongoing program for the Tracy Area School going forward,” he said. He said Campbell had applied for grant funding to purchase a trailer and tools for the school program.

Dobson and Carpenter said the next area of Tracy identified for potential housing development was located along Front Street. The city owns 22 acres of land in that area, with road and utility access.