Perfecto Garcia (1870-1930) was a Spanish immigrant born in Oviedo, Asturias son of Francisco Garcia and Maria Garcia. From the information in his 1908 Application for Naturalization, 1913 Passport Application, 1919 Passport Application and 1920 Passport Application, it can be concluded that he emigrated to the US from Cuba in February 1895 and for most of the time until his death lived in Tampa. In 1905 he married Cuban born Rosa Pumeriega (1883-1961) and had three children. The newspaper clipping notifying his passing in 1930, states he arrived in the US in 1885, settled in Chicago where in 1900 he opened a cigar factory that was relocated to Tampa in 1905 under the name Perfecto Garcia & Bros. from which he retired in 1926.

His brothers that were also part of the firm were Manuel Garcia (1875- ) and Angel José Garcia (1882- ). According to a 1918 Passport Application, Manuel emigrated to the US from Cuba in 1895 and lived in several cities but mostly in Tampa where he was a cigar manufacturer. It appears Manuel was responsible for purchasing tobacco leafs, reportedly grown in their family-owned farms in Cuba. According to a 1913 Passport Application, Angel lived between Chicago and Tampa and identified himself as a cigar salesman. As a member of the firm he remained in Chicago running the fifteen or so cigar shops they owned in the Windy City from where he covered all the mid-west which was their major market. 

Their first factory building in Tampa was a wooden structure lost due to the Great Ybor City Fire of March 1908 that destroyed one hundred seventy one  homes and forty two businesses over eighteen city blocks.  They then moved to the Sanchez & Haya Co. Factory #1 on 7th Ave. & 15th St. in Ybor City from where they moved to a brand new factory building at 2808 N 16th St.  This three story 47,882 sq. ft. facilty was built in 1914 by the G. A. Miller Const. Co., though according to the Hillsborough County Property Appraiser records it was built in 1917.  During its peak years of production, the company had over one thousand two hundred employees at the tobacco fields, the cigar factory and their stores.  Their Don Julian Kits brand was considered one of the highest grade cigars at the time along with Corral-Wodiska & Cia. Bering brand and the Garcia y Vega brand.  

In the aftermath of the Cuban Embargo, Perfecto Garcia's Cuban tobacco inventory dwindled and like many other cigar companies in Ybor City, they looked to sell their business.  Perfecto Garcia & Bros. was sold to Havano Cigar Corp. who brought machines in to roll cigars at an average of 60,000 per day.  In 1981 the United States Tobacco Co. of Greenwich, CT bought Perfecto Garcia from Havano Cigar Co. for the brand name only.  In June 1982 United States Tobacco Co. ceased operations at this location, renamed the company Central American Cigar Co. and moved operations to York, PA citing a decline in cigar sales and the economy as their reasons for closing. In 1999, Arango Cigar Co. of Northbrook, IL announced that they were the new importer and sole distributor of Perfecto Garcia premium cigars, then manufactured in Nicaragua and once again, hand made.

This building has been vacant since 1982.  Pictures of the factory building interior in 2018 can be seen on this Abandoned Florida web page. According to public records, the property was sold to PGCF LLC for $2.1 million on February 11, 2019.  The new owners started renovation work in 2022 to modernize the interior of the building and transform it into thirty six apartment units, while completely restoring the facade.  The pictures below are of the abandoned building in 2014 and as renovation work was progressing as of June 2023.