Rio Rancho Mayor Tom Swisstack has said it before and he’ll say it again.

The buildout of the City Center area isn’t a four- to five-year project, it’s going to take about 20 years. He echoed thissentiment Friday afternoon at his State of the City speech before the Greater Rio Rancho Chamber of Commerce’s meeting at Chamisa Hills Country Club.

Too many residents, disappointed in the occasional trek to Santa Ana Star Center or City Hall, probably expected a plethora of businesses and restaurants by now, not quite three years after the inaugural event at the Star Center.

rio rancho observer '�” gary herron photo Mayor Tom Swisstack touted UNM'��s Rio Rancho campus as one of the bright spots for the city in a speech to chamber members last Friday.

Swisstack jokingly referred to the Star Center as “an albatross,” and was reassured by the new management team Global Spectrum that the venue’s future is bright.

The city’s future is also rosy, according to Swisstack and chamber executive director Debbi Moore.

Swisstack reminded chamber members and others that Hewlett-Packard’s huge building, just west of City Hall, are only a few months shy of completion and will result in 1,350 jobs by the end of 2012 — many of those employees living in Rio Rancho.

The mayor said the two college campuses under construction, University of New Mexico West and Central New Mexico Community College’s new site, just north of City Hall, will not only provide hundreds of jobs but also improve educational opportunities for Rio Ranchoans — and lead to better-paying jobs.

Improved access to City Center, via Paseo del Volcan being extended beyond Iris Road to US 550, is also in the works.

UNM will have a regional medical center here, too; it’s going to be built on Paseo del Volcan, starting in 2010 and should open in 2012. Meanwhile Presbyterian Hospital’s new under-construction facility on Unser Boulevard will open with 66 beds but expand to 300 when Phase III is complete. Improved healthcare and jobs come with each.

Swisstack said “The Village,” an outdoor urban setting center similar to ABQ Uptown, will encompass 455,000 square feet and begin construction early next year. Retail businesses, a movie theater, office space and a hotel are expected to locate there.

Attendees watched a six-minute video that gave a brief glimpse at the city’s explosion, from what was basically a retirement community in 1980 to Rio Rancho’s status as the third-largest city in the state today, with an estimated 87,000 residents.

Swisstack wouldn’t take much credit for all that’s underway or in the works, instead crediting the City Council and chamber for their efforts in keeping an eye to the future.

Something that hasn’t been said as much lately by Swisstack is his desire to see the city’s populace continue to determine its future and that, “We as a city are going to define how big we’re going to be.”

There’s certainly room for growth. By the numbers, he said, of the city’s 66,000 acres only 13,000 acres have been developed.

“He knows where we need to go,” Moore said of Swisstack, who touted the collaborative effort, just 19 months in length, between the mayor and the chamber.

Moore closed the luncheon by noting the chamber will begin its 30th year of existence in 2010 — it was founded a year before Rio Rancho was incorporated — and said she was “excited about what’s on the horizon.”

The chamber has a new slogan, she said: Life, growth, partnership.

“Without those three, none of us can survive,” she said.