Hard work a factor in Engelstad success Investing in a booming
Las Vegas provides business opportunities

Imperial Palace hotel and casino, built by former Thief River Falls resident Ralph Engelstad in 1980, is an impressive 2,700-room structure in Las Vegas, NV. The hotel was built on the site of the former Flamingo Capri motel which Engelstad purchased in 1971, and an adjoining 10 acres purchased from Howard Hughes. It is the largest hotel in the world owned by an individual and Engelstad values the property at about $400 million.

Flamingo Capri Motel in Las Vegas looked like this when it was purchased by Ralph Engelstad in 1971. The property was in foreclosure when Engelstad acquired the two-story building on what is now the fabled Las Vegas Strip. He later added 10 adjoining acres purchased from Howard Hughes. Engelstad described the Flamingo Capri as "just a run-down motel."

 Among the collectible vehicles on display in the auto collection at the Imperial Palace hotel and casino in Las Vegas is this Chevrolet truck, bearing the Ralph Engelstad Construction Co. sign. With his first business loan of $2,500 from a Grand Forks bank in 1954, Engelstad made a down payment on a truck of this make and model and purchased a cement mixer, wheelbarrows and related items for his concrete business.

Want a plan to follow for success in business? How about using an outline like the following?

• Work hard.

• Find an economic growth area.

• Work really hard.

• Invest your earnings in real estate.

• Work harder.

• Buy and sell an airport.

• Devote your life to increasing your holdings.

Impractical? Improbable? Impossible? It worked for Ralph Engelstad, whose achievements in business are legendary in his home town of Thief River Falls although he gained his major success while headquartered in Las Vegas, Nevada. And it all started with a determination that he wanted his life to be something more than what his parents had and what he could expect to achieve locally.

Having graduated from Lincoln high school in 1948 and the University of North Dakota in 1954, married an East Grand Forks girl and talked a Grand Forks banker into loaning him $2,500 for a cement mixer, wheelbarrows, shovels and the down payment on a truck, Engelstad expanded from part-time to full-time his business of laying the concrete slabs for erection of the distinctive metal farm storage buildings known as AGSCO buildings. He and his crew worked at this job throughout North Dakota and northwestern Minnesota.

Engelstad expanded his construction business to include building and contracting on restaurants, motels, bowling alleys and apartment complexes for resale until an unfortunate circumstance became a fortuitous one for him. The Grand Forks Air Force Base was under construction in the late 1950s when one of the principal contractors for base housing absconded with a large amount of money, leaving workers and other bills unpaid. The government shut down construction and a thriving Grand Forks economy went into a tailspin.

"I was involved in a number of properties in the community and realized I had to go somewhere else if I was to stay in business," he said. "I got on a plane and looked around at various areas of the country. Las Vegas was booming--nothing like it is now, of course, with 5,000 people a month moving into town--but there was a lot of activity, so I decided to go into business there."

Setting up shop in Las Vegas in the Fall of 1959, Engelstad says he became primarily a "paper contractor," securing projects and then sub-letting as much of the actual construction as possible. His company built tract housing and commercial buildings, including a good deal of work at the Nevada Test Site and at military bases in Nevada and California. He also built a house and his wife came to live in Nevada in 1962.

"Whenever I got a little money I invested it in real estate," he said. "I guess I have always done that instead of investing in stocks. There will always be more people, but there will never be any more land."

When it came to investing in real estate, Ralph wasn't one to be timid when a bargain presented itself. He has always been on the lookout for property with appreciation potential. In 1965, when the population of Las Vegas was less than 60,000 people, he took advantage of a foreclosure sale and purchased the Thunderbird Airfield. He doesn't remember the acreage of the site or, for that matter, why he bought it.

"I really don't know why I bought it," he admits. "I didn't really have any specific plans for it but property was increasing in value and the price was right." Engelstad says the purchase price was something less than a million dollars.

Two years later he found someone who wanted the property more than he did. Reclusive multi-millionaire Howard Hughes was looking for a private airfield and Engelstad agreed to sell. "I came out of that deal with about $5.8 million," he said--not bad appreciation on a two-year investment. The airfield itself still exists as the North Las Vegas Air Terminal, serving private, non-commercial aircraft of all types and sizes.

With that land sale as the impetus, Engelstad in 1971 purchased the grounds and building of what was then the Flamingo Capri Motel--also in foreclosure but located on the fabled Las Vegas Strip. "The best way I can describe it is just a run-down motel," he said. "I had some other motel property before the Flamingo Capri, but I sold that and concentrated on the Flamingo property."

Acting as his own general contractor, Engelstad built some low rise buildings on the site and in 1972 he put in a few banks of slot machines and the staff totaled about 250 in number. In about 1983 he purchased 10 adjoining acres from Howard Hughes to provide for expansion. Despite his several business dealings with Hughes, Engelstad said he never met him.

Through Engelstad's development, the Flamingo Capri gave way to the Imperial Palace hotel and casino which he built on the site in 1980. With five connected towers--one of which served as living quarters for his family for about 20 years--the Imperial Palace has 2,700 rooms. Today it is the largest hotel in the world owned by an individual. Part of the ground floor is utilized as the casino and a portion of the building houses his automobile collection, considered to be one of the finest in the world.

Included in the auto collection is Ralph's favorite--a Mercedes G4 which was once used as a staff wagon by German dictator Adolf Hitler. The collection also includes a number of vehicles owned and/or used by several American presidents, European heads of state and other dignitaries and celebrities. "We pretty well know where all the desirable collector's cars are," he said. "A lot of them aren't available, but we have been able to get some as they did come up for sale."

Ralph refers to his car collection as "a hobby that started in the 1970s and got out of control." A fascination for cars led him to start the collection and he had a personal interest in the early acquisitions. But lack of available time made it necessary for him to turn handling of the collection over to others and he feels no attachment for many of the later purchases.

"I would go out in the warehouse and see unfamiliar cars and ask where they came from," he said. "And they would tell me, 'Oh, you bought that at such and such.' They may have been great cars, but they didn't mean anything to me. So last August 30 I sold about 300 of them."

Visitors to the collection probably won't notice the missing vehicles--he still has about 400 left on display and in storage. "There are probably 40 or 50 that I'll never sell," he says.

Also on display at the Imperial Palace are two notable items from Engelstad's personal past. One is the same make and model Chevrolet truck that he acquired with that $2,500 loan to start his construction business, complete with the door sign proclaiming "Ralph Engelstad Construction Company Inc. Grand Forks, N.D."

The other is a Rock Island tractor retrieved about 10 years ago from what had been his grandfather's farm southeast of Thief River Falls. A tree had to be cut down so it could be winched onto the auto carrier semi-trailer. The tractor is on loan from cousins Arnold and James Engelstad of Thief River Falls, has been completely restored, and at some time will be returned to Thief River Falls. Here it will be on display in the machinery building at Peder Engelstad Pioneer Village. Ralph provided Pennington County with $200,000 some years ago to construct the building and name the historical village for his grandfather.

Today the Imperial Palace in Las Vegas has approximately 2,500 employees--about half of the total 5,000 people whom Engelstad employs at his numerous properties. Included among those is the new Imperial Palace of Mississippi in Biloxi, MS. That new facility includes a 32-story high rise hotel with 1,100 rooms and a casino.

Engelstad has made a point throughout the years to employ people with disabilities whenever he can. Presently 13.4 percent of his employees have disabilities and in 1990 the Imperial Palace was named "National Employer of the Year" by the President's Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities.

"Just about everyone has an employable skill," Engelstad said. "In our businesses we have a lot of different types of jobs. Our experience with employees who have disabilities has been very positive and we find them to be capable and loyal workers."

From a $2,500 bank loan in Grand Forks to a $5.8 million airport sale in Las Vegas to building a hotel and casino in Mississippi without borrowed capital, Ralph Engelstad has achieved spectacular business success. He has exhibited a tenacity and work ethic which typified his athletic performances at Lincoln high school, and his attitude toward loyalties runs deep.

Back to the Top