RiNo is adding a new business thatap easy to enter, but hard to leave.
The Escape Game, with nearly 60 locations around the country, is adding its largest location to date at 2620 Walnut St., where 10 Barrel Brewing previously operated.
“We’re usually part of an evening out, so we love districts like RiNo,” said Daniel Daher, director of marketing for The Escape Game.
The 12,300-square-foot space will cost about $1 million to construct and will hold six escape game rooms and three game show rooms, where participants will participate in a mock television game show with a live host. Its escape games span from exploring ruins for treasure to saving the solar system from a black hole.
Daher said the spot will open by the middle of next year.
It will be Colorado’s second Escape Game location, the first having opened two years ago in Lone Tree’s Park Meadows Mall. The cost to play varies by location, but the average price is $40 per person, Daher said.
“I think the reason that it took so long (to find a second location) was that we were pretty set on RiNo,” he added.
The space has also sat vacant for quite some time, too. 10 Barrel closed its doors in the 1940s warehouse in late 2022. Daher said the brewing equipment is no longer there, but the taps are. The Escape Room won’t be selling alcohol on-site, focusing more on games than drinks. Patrons will be able to enjoy a large lounge in the center of the building plus a rooftop deck.
“We’ll have yard games and board games, and itap going to be a whole entertainment area,” Daher said.
The Escape Room launched its first location in Nashville, Tennessee, in 2014. It makes all the props for its games at its 60,000-square-foot “adventure factory,” where nearly 100 craftsmen work, Daher said. The company is adding a dozen new spots this year and has storefronts from Times Square in New York City to the Mall of America in Minnesota. It takes the immersive experience seriously — the toilets for its prison break game are sourced from a Tennessee penitentiary.
“We’re the only [escape game company] of our size that is privately owned,” Daher said. “These aren’t franchises.”
Daher’s new landlord in RiNo, Edens, has ambitious expansion plans of its own. The Washington, D.C.-based real estate investment firm has bought more than $100 million in RiNo real estate since 2018 — including 2620 Walnut St., for $5 million in 2019 — and plans to redevelop a block nearby into new retail with a grocery store.
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