HARRAH’S ENTERTAINMENT BUYS IMPERIAL PALACE

Harrah’s Entertainment owns most everything you see.

The latest news from Las Vegas is the sale of the Imperial Palace Hotel and Casino on the Las Vegas Strip. Harrah’s Entertainment announced on Monday that they have purchased the property for $370 million. The Imperial Palace sits on 18.5 acres between Harrah’s and the Flamingo, both owned by Harrah’s Entertainment. The purchase price for the aging Imperial Palace was basically a vacant land deal amounting to $20 million an acre, the going price for center strip frontage. Harrah’s now controls more than 270 acres of Las Vegas strip frontage real estate, more than enough to allow Harrah’s to design many future projects. The recently announced MGM Mirage project, City Center, being built on 66 acres of west side strip frontage may now have some serious competition from Harrah’s. Harrah’s now has the land and location to design and build an even bigger project on the east side of the strip. Harrah’s also owns the property directly across the strip from Harrah’s/Imperial Palace/Flamingo, Caesar’s Palace Resort, which was acquired from Caesar’s Entertainment in June of this year in a $9 billion deal. Just down the strip they have ownership of another major parcel with Bally’s and the Paris casinos. Of course, as everyone in the poker world knows, Harrah’s owns the off-strip Rio Hotel and Casino, home to the World Series of Poker, also owned by Harrah’s.

Harrah’s officials issued a press release announcing the sale and a time table for the completion of the transfer was listed as the end of the year. The Imperial Palace hotel has 2640 rooms and was built by transplanted North Dakotan, Ralph Engelstad. Engelstad purchased the old Flamingo Capri property and built the Imperial Palace. Engelstad and the IP gained international notoriety in the late 1980’s when he was fined a record $1.5 million and his gaming license was placed in probation after the Nevada Gaming Commission found that he had damaged the reputation and image of the states gaming industry due to some rather bizarre behavior. Ralph held parties at the Imperial Palace every April 20th celebrating the birthday of Adolf Hitler. Additionally, he had amassed a large collection of Nazi war memorabilia which was housed in a large private room in the IP Auto Collection area. A lifesize painting of Hitler giving a speech showed Ralph Engelstad in a Nazi uniform standing along side the infamous figure. Apparently Engelstad enjoyed hosting parties at the hotel. He held birthday parties for his dogs with mandatory attendance of selected IP employees. Generally, the party goers left with a nice gift.

Although Ralph Engelstad died in November 2002, the IP continued to operate under the guidance of his wife of 48 years, Betty Engelstad. She managed the property through the Ralph and Betty Engelstad Trust. The IP employs 2,500 plus people whose futures with the property are unknown. Rumor says Harrah’s will implode the buildings once the future project development of the property is decided. The only strip frontage on the block that is not owned by Harrah’s is the small, 4.4 acre, Barbary Coast Casino, which is held by the Boyd Gaming Group.