Guess who turned “Sweet 16” recently?

Santa Ana Star Casino, which celebrated with a big party for its Star Card Rewards members in the Events Center.

There’s no doubt the stretch of US 550, known as NM 44 when the Star Casino opened, has changed. “When it opened, there was nothing out here,” said Del Esparza of Esparza Advertising, which handles the casino.

And, he recalled, drawing laughter from the media representatives gathered in the Cheenah Lounge Thursday morning, when he was a kid and living only a few blocks away from Star Casino growing up “Scott used to beat me up.”

“Somebody had to,” Scott Eldredge added. Eldredge is the casino’s general manager. A native of Albuquerque, he moved his family back here almost five years ago and was the Star Casino’s interim G.M. until an exhaustive national search deemed him the best candidate to succeed former G.M. Conrad Granito last August.

“All this was was a smoke shop and a few slot machines 16 years ago,” Eldredge said. Crediting Esparza’s firm’s work, Eldredge added, “Revenue has doubled in the last four-and-a-half years.

“We now have 1,500 slot machines, 30 table games and four restaurants,” he continued.

“I think that probably the biggest highlight is just to see how everything has developed around us, not only from the (Santa Ana) Pueblo’s standpoint, ” Eldredge said. “Now, we have 45 holes of world-class golf, we’ve got a world-class resort, a travel center, a native plants nursery, so just how the fruits of the labor of the casino have allowed the pueblo to develop is a wonderful story.

“And then just how we’ve now tied ourselves to the growth of Rio Rancho, as it’s (grown) out here. We’ve done a good job on both sides of creating a partnership between the city and the pueblo and the casino and all the entities and businesses of the city — and I anticipate that just growing,” he said.

“As that City Center out there, surrounding the Star Center, continues to grow and develop — HP now and universities coming — I just see that getting better and better,” he said.

And although Eldredge admitted, “We’re all feeling the crunch right now,” he pointed out that instead of layoffs at the Star Casino, people are being hired. And new construction is being planned, too.

“We’re being a lot more aggressive with entertainment,” Eldredge said, revealing a mixed-martial arts (MMA) event will take place at the Star Casino’s Events Center on Aug. 15.

“Thanks to Esparza and their help, we’ve positioned ourselves as this ‘locals’ place.’ So we’re not feeling the impact of the travel industry, unfortunately, which has been decimated, so we haven’t had to worry about filling 200 or 300 hotel rooms,” Eldredge explained. “We are allowed to focus on taking care of our local guests, so that’s insulated us a little bit from the economy. We’re still feeling the effects a little bit, but I think we’re managing our bottom line a little bit better, trying to be a little bit more smart, cost effective, and that’s put us in a position where we’re allowed to continue with the construction projects we have planned, hire a few more people.”

Eldredge said he’s noticed during the recent lag in the economy that, “People are coming as often, they’re just not spending as much. And that’s OK — we’ll still take good care of them.”

Eldredge said the Events Center would have entertainment every Friday and Saturday evening in July.

Other Star Casino administrative news was noted: Abel Avila, with 25 years experience in the food and beverage industry, was named the new food and beverage director; Michael Burdick, formerly the direct marketing manager for the Star Casino, was elevated to director of marketing.

Also, Gunnar Fox was introduced as the new general manager at Santa Ana Star Center, recently taken over by Global Spectrum, and Mike Killion was introduced as the Star Center’s assistant general manager and director of marketing.

Both were affiliated with Global Spectrum in the past: Fox was the G.M. at the company’s EnCana Events Centre in Dawson Creek, B.C., Canada, while Killion had been managing the Budweiser Events Center in Loveland, Colo.