More than four years ago, City of Rio Rancho officials broke ground on what was envisioned as the new downtown Rio Rancho. Restaurants, theaters, film studios, hotels and various retail options were promised.

While those plans didn’t come to fruition, Mayor Tom Swisstack, who wasn’t involved in the initial development plans, says the City Center area will be developed. But, it won’t happen overnight.

“The central business district is a 20-year journey,” Swisstack said. “I apologize for any impressions when the district was initially talked about, that it would be a four-to-five year journey. This is a 20-year journey.” So, what’s in “downtown” Rio Rancho? The area east of Unser and north of Paseo del Volcan has City Hall, the Santa Ana Star Center and lots of tumbleweeds and sage.

However, there are projects ongoing that will change the face of the City Center area.

Hewlett-Packard is in the midst of constructing a 218,000-square-foot technical support center. Swisstack expects the project to be complete before the end of the year and HP will employ more than 1,000 people.

The University of New Mexico is in the process of constructing a 42,000-square-foot college and the university has plans to expand.

Unlike several projects of the past, actual work has been completed on these sites and residents can venture to the City Center and see the construction.

Central New Mexico Comm-unity College and University of New Mexico Hospital also will have buildings in the central business district and Rio Rancho’s second comprehensive high school, V. Sue Cleveland High, roughly two miles east on Paseo del Volcan, is set to open this week.

With construction ongoing, Swisstack said developers are interested in bringing retail to the area.

“We have had more inquiries than you can imagine,” he said. “Everything ranging from hotels to retail. People are putting money down to do feasibility studies.”

Swisstack won’t make any promises on when City Center will be built up, but reiterated that it’s not going to happen overnight.

“Not all of this will occur in my lifetime,” he said. “We’re developing a game plan and people will experience, 20 years from now, the ultimate touchdown.”

While construction will buoy the city’s floundering gross receipts tax revenue, Swisstack acknowledged that more retail is necessary in the city.

Walgreen’s and CVS have plans for three new pharmacies in the city.

Walgreen’s is almost complete with their store at the corner of Unser and Northern, while CVS is in the embryonic stages of developing stores at the corner of Northern and NM 528 and one at the corner of Southern and NM 528.

Swisstack and City Manager James Jimenez recently held a retail summit with developers and retail stakeholders to gain more insight on what’s necessary to attract more businesses to the city.

According to a study completed by Grubb & Ellis in July, more than 40 percent of retail spending was “leaked” or spent outside of the City of Rio Rancho for Fiscal Year 2008, which ended June 30, 2008.

The total retail spending in the state per capita was $13,353 and the retail spending per capita in Rio Rancho was $6,410.

The city lost roughly $6 million in tax revenue.

According to Grubb & Ellis, the root cause of the city’s retail leakage is a lack of retailers located in the city. Swisstack acknowledges these facts and said the city is working on developing more retail areas in the city.

Some of the areas that could see more retail development include Southern Boulevard, Unser Boulevard, and the intersections of Idalia and NM 528 and Unser and Black Arroyo.

The report stated that one of the main reasons the city is not attracting more retailers is the close proximity of Cottonwood Mall in Albuquerque. The mall is less than one mile from the southeast border of Rio Rancho and most national retailers won’t locate stores within five miles of existing locations.

Some of the strategies Grubb & Ellis offered Swisstack include: increase public awareness of the city’s retail leakage problem; increase commercial brokers awareness of the gross receipts infrastructure program available to developers; analyze the retail gross receipts collected from online and mail order entities; and finalize the City Center master plans and associated retail land uses.

Rio Rancho is the third-largest city in the state with roughly 80,000 residents. Swisstack said he’s more concerned about quality of life issues than comparing Rio Rancho to other cities.

“I’m not interested in being the largest city or in comparing ourselves to Dallas and Fort Worth,” Swisstack said. “I’m interested in building an innovative government and having diverse job opportunities. We need a sound education and healthcare system, while not compromising our quality of life.”