Back to the future for Lehman's Garage

After 94 years in business at its original shop on 54th Street and Lyndale Avenue S., the owner of Lehman's Garage is doubling down in Minneapolis.

The company, which operates six auto body and repair shops in the metropolitan area, tore down the antiquated garage in June and this month opened a larger, $3 million, 19,000-square-foot facility.

And Lehman's is expecting a record year.

"We expect to exceed our best year in business, 2008, this year, despite the fact that the Lyndale shop was closed between June and October," said president Darrell Amberson, who expects sales approaching $18 million.

"We encouraged our local customers to bring their cars to a construction trailer we had at the site, and then we would drive the cars to Bloomington or another shop for work." Doing so retained more than half the shop's regular business, he said.

The company even added jobs over the last year (to 107 from 98) despite the construction-related business disruption.

The Minneapolis shop, although not the largest, historically has been Lehman's No. 1 or No. 2 revenue-generator and claims many third-generation customers.

Karen Cosette, 70, Dick's widow and the majority owner of Lehman's, approved the new Minneapolis shop and had a hand in the design of the contemporary, bright and energy-efficient new building that was developed by Oppidan Investment of Minnetonka.

"This modern facility will ensure our continued place in the community well into the future," she said.

Smith, 45, a veteran of health care companies who also once was a heath care industry investment banker at Piper Jaffray, was hired to add experience and depth to GH&F's team.

Greene Holcomb, founded in the late 1980s by former Piper Jaffray investment bankers, generally represents sellers in so-called "middle market" transactions that range from $50 million to $350 million.

"We have known Phil for nearly 15 years, at Piper Jaffray and in the various executive roles that Phil has held over the last 10 years," said Hunt Greene, the boss at GH&F. "Phil's breadth of ... experience will be a tremendous asset for our middle market health care clients."

At Piper, Smith was one of the investment bankers on the 1997 sale of Minnesota's Spine-Tech to a Swiss medical company for $595 million in cash, a home run for long-term investors who earned more than five times their money over the original IPO price.

Last May, Smith resigned as CEO after less than five months at struggling Angeion, the Vadnais Heights-based medical diagnostic business. Smith, a five-year Angeion board member who was drafted for the job after the departure of the previous CEO, declined to discuss his short-lived run as Angeion's CEO.

But he did say he's glad to be back in the transactions trade with partners he's long known.

St. Louis-based Benjamin F. Edwards & Co. has opened a branch of its brokerage business in Edina and tapped veteran Twin Cities money professional Janel Goff to run the office as a managing director for investments.

The office at 50th and France is the 20th for Benjamin Edwards in 14 states.

The firm is a offspring of A.G. Edwards, a century-old brokerage acquired in 2007 by Wachovia.

Tad Edwards started the new firm in 2008 at the beginning of the Great Recession. But with baby boomer clients and a focus on retirement planning, the brokerage has thrived and now has more than 200 employees.

"We don't need to be in the big money markets," he said. "The mid market is more of a fit with our culture."

The Carlson School of Management ranked first among prestigious business schools for job placements among the MBA class of 2011, according to a survey by Bloomberg Businessweek.

Only 3 percent of graduates were without a job offer three months after graduation. The median salary was $95,507.

Results are at: www.startribune.com/a817.