With new businesses like Jordan’s Furniture and Escape New Haven, the Elm City has become a growing destination for recreational opportunities.

Owners of Jordan’s Furniture, which houses the It Adventure Indoor Ropes Course and Escape New Haven, said they saw an opportunity in New Haven to expand into an area with limited indoor recreational activities. The New Haven location of Jordan’s Furniture’s It Adventure Indoor Ropes Course opened Dec. 11, 2015, while Escape New Haven opened its first venue in Connecticut Feb. 12, 2015 and Escape 2.0 last December.

Jordan’s Furniture’s It Adventure Indoor Ropes Course is the largest indoor ropes course in the world, according to its website. The course includes 60 feet high ropes, zip lines as well as a free fall jump. The company also has a small version of the ropes course in the Reading, Massachusetts store.

The facility is most definitely unique  among its competitors, said Muriel Wang ’20, who has visited the course.

“This one’s special because it’s indoors. The ones I have been to are all outdoors,” Wang said. “It seems like dystopian science fiction versus outdoor ropes courses, which are nature integrated.”

Wang added that there is not too much competition in the area for recreational indoor activities.

Escape New Haven involves a series of puzzles that requires teams to explore, adapt and think creatively to succeed and escape the locked room. There are a total of 14 Escape locations located throughout Connecticut.

When the escape concept first started becoming popular in the United States, Ethan Rodriguez-Torrent and his business partner Max Sutter thought that it would be a popular attraction in New Haven. They then opened up the New Haven locale, Rodriguez-Torrent said.

“This is a much bigger location,” said Rodriguez-Torrent, the co-founder and chief producer of Escape New Haven. “We have more staff. We are able to invest a lot more in our games.”

At Escape New Haven, Saturday and Sunday are the most popular days of the week for bookings, but the new location is able to accommodate a lot more people. The company recently changed their hours to try and target people with more flexible schedules.

“We just opened up Tuesday and Wednesday evenings, and we hope that will be a good alternative for students,” Rodriguez-Torrent said.

Since the opening of Escape New Haven, the co-founders have opened an Escape Rhode Island and Escape Sacramento.

Currently, Escape New Haven is not looking to expand in the coming years, Rodriguez-Torrent said. But students should expect new and exciting ideas and events.

“Right now we are more interested in the concept within the creative team challenge sphere,” Rodriguez-Torrent said. “We would like to do some large scale events in the city of New Haven.”

Jordan’s Furniture was founded in 1918.

MADISON BATTAGLIA