Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Premier Seating Command Performance Model 2686

This is topic Premier Seating Command Performance Model 2686 in forum Ground Level at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Andrew McCrea (Member # 674) on 01-20-2004, 01:47 PM:

This is the only picture I could find for this seat:

I've heard its no longer made, however, I have found this seat to be the comfiest I have ever sat in. Far more comfy than the Ambassador (made by Irwin) or the Emissary (made by Premier).

Does anyone know of any company that still makes a seat like this?

Thank-you!

Posted by Gordon McLeod (Member # 33) on 01-20-2004, 04:47 PM:

Premier seating went bankrupt a few years ago

Posted by Andrew McCrea (Member # 674) on 01-20-2004, 06:00 PM:

Well, I knew someone swallowed them up and they are now American Premier Seating... They discontinued the seat right after the industry over building.

Is there still an identical (or atleast similar) seat manufactured?

Posted by Gordon McLeod (Member # 33) on 01-20-2004, 07:09 PM:

check out the latest reencarnation of them

http://www.americanpremierseating.com/

also http://baltimore.bizjournals.com/baltimore/stories/2003/07/14/story1.html

Premier Seating closes
Rachel Sams
Staff
The company that once made seats for Ripken Stadium and the Naval Academy's football stadium has gone under -- for the second time.

The assets of American Premier LLC, formerly Premier Seating, were auctioned off to Track Seating of Grand Rapids, Mich., in mid-June, an American Premier official said this week. All 55 employees of American Premier were laid off June 11, and the company's equipment was moved to Michigan, said William Dotson, a managing member of American Premier. The company's factory on Shannon Drive in East Baltimore is for sale.
American Premier had a loan of about $750,000 from Mercantile Bank, Dotson said. Mercantile called the loan, and when the company could not repay it, the bank auctioned the company's assets, Dotson said. The company's assets were sold to Track Seating for $519,000, he said.
It is a deja vu experience for the stadium seating company, which defaulted on a $1.1 million loan from Columbia Bank in 2001. Columbia sued. The assets of the company -- then Premier Seating -- were placed in receivership to be sold, and all 100 employees were laid off.
Modern Door & Equipment Sales Inc. in Charles County bought the company for a reported $1 million and renamed it American Premier LLC. Modern Door General Manager Philip Pasini told the Baltimore Business Journal in April that three companies were vying to buy American Premier, including one in Michigan. Pasini could not be reached for comment.
Premier Seating was founded in 1994 and grew throughout the mid-1990s along with the movie theater industry. Premier made seats for such renowned theaters as the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., and the Senator Theater on York Road.
But that business slacked off when movie theater expansion slowed in recent years. Some theaters did not pay the business for large projects, Dotson said. Last year, it still looked as though the company might make it. Employment was up to 130 people in 2002, Dotson said; Modern Door's Pasini said in April that the company had 2002 revenues of $7 million.
But that ultimately wasn't enough.
"We underestimated the damage Premier had in the industry," American Premier LLC's Dotson said. "We were never able to really overcome the whole Premier thing."
Pasini said in April that Modern Door was asking about $2 million for American Premier.
A Track Seating official could not be reached for comment.

© 2003 American City Business Journals Inc.