Ysidro Pendas Garcia (1844-1902) was a Spanish immigrant from the village of Priero in Asturias who emigrated to Cuba in 1860 and learned the cigar business there while working at La Sultana factory.  Miguel Alvarez (1847-1918) was also a Spanish immigrant from Asturias who like Pendas, had learned the cigar business while working at La Sultana factory in Cuba.  In January 1864 Pendas left Cuba for New York City when he decided to venture into the cigar business in the US.  It appears Alvarez also left Cuba for New York around the same time.

The book The Eagle and Brooklyn published in 1892 includes a review of Ysidro Pendas Garcia in its Men of the Time section.  Therein it is stated that:

"In 1867 with Faustino Lozano and Miguel Alvarez he formed the firm Lozano, Pendas & Co., Pendas being the business name of Mr. Garcia.  Beginning in Brooklyn and continuing in New York, the house made successive advances in prosperity, the opportunities and requirements of its business finally leading to the establishment of a branch at Key West, Florida which was subsequently transferred to Tampa, where there is now a large plant, built and owned by the firm."

Lozano, Pendas & Co. was the third cigar factory to establish in Tampa on May 15, 1887 after Sanchez & Haya and Vicente Martinez Ybor established theirs in 1886. In 1894 Faustino Lozano sold his interests in Lozano, Pendas & Co. and retired from the cigar manufacturing business.  He then established a tobacco leaf business together with a Mr. Selgas.  When Faustino sold his interest in Lozano, Pendas & Co. in 1894, the firm name was changed to Y. Pendas, Alvarez & Co.  Other family member that formed part of the company during its early days were Ysidro's brother Enrique Pendas Garcia (1846- ), Ysidro’s nephew Enrique Pendas Trelles (1865-1935) and his brother Jaime Pendas Trelles (1863-1936) and Anastacio Alvarez the brother of Miguel Alvarez.

The original Lozano, Pendas & Co. factory building in Ybor City was established in 1887 at 10th Avenue & 15th Street, next to the Cyrilla factory building in a facility offered as a relocation incentive by the Tampa Board of Trade.  By June 1895 they had outgrown that facility and constructed a new three story building at 1416 Spring Street, east of the Hillsborough River in what today is the Tampa downtown area.  In just a few years the Spring Street facility was also outgrown. Planning for a new factory building began and was concluded in 1909 when Architect Fred J. James (1870-1932) released the plans for this 43,680 sq. ft. building at 2301 Frances Ave, now N Albany Ave. in West Tampa that could accommodate seven hundred workers.  Although official County records show built in 1913, general consensus is that construction was completed in 1910 but shortly thereafter the factory had to close operations due to the six month long general cigar strike of 1910.  Operations were resumed here in January 1911 when the strike was settled.

Ysidro Pendas and Miguel Alvarez were married to two sisters of Irish descent Elizabeth Mary Hogan and Julia Hogan respectively.  Ysidro, who had three sons and six daughters died unexpectedly on September 12, 1902 shortly after returning from a trip to Spain and is buried in Brooklyn.  Miguel Alvarez retired shortly after Ysidro's death.  The company was then managed Enrique Pendas Trelles until 1914 and then by a second family generation comprised of Miguel Alvarez son John and Ysidro Pendas sons Ysidro Jr. (1876-1934), José M. and Manuel, who were all cousins themselves.

Y. Pendas & Alvarez Co. ceased to operate in 1918 upon the death of Miguel Alvarez on December 11,1918 and the death of the company's bookkeeper, C. H. King shortly thereafter.  On May 20, 1920 this factory building was acquired by E. Regensburg & Sons who operated here until 1933 when they closed this operation after a general cigar workers strike but continued to operate their Ybor City factory known as El Reloj.  ​In 1921 all rights to the Webster brand, Y. Pendas & Alvarez Co.'s main brand, were acquired by the Webster Cigar Company of Detroit, MI. 

This building has eight foot dial clocks on four sides of its octagonal one hundred twenty foot high seven-story tower, reportedly at one time the highest close tower in Florida.  A similar tower is currently only found on two other cigar factory buildings, one being the Samuel I. Davis factory building which is of a similar design but has no clocks.  

Reportedly the Hillsborough Box Company bought the property in 1946 however no official records were found to verify. On February 21, 1989 the Tampa Corrugated Carton Co. represented by its president Edward A. Martin sold for a reported $200,000 the building to Jeffrey D. Freeman and Jack Wier, Jr. On June 6, 2016 Wier deeded his ownership to Freeman who then became sole owner. On January 7, 2019 Freeman sold for a reported $3,300,000 to 2301 Albany LLC who on April 7, 2023 represented by Henry B. Bentley as Manager, sold for a reported $4,300,000 to Sanmarten, LLC its current owner. Sanmarten, LLC was incorporated on December 19, 2022, its current officers are Massimialano Boscaino, Teodoro Boscaino and Sandra Di Palma.

While under the ownership of Freeman and Wier, the building was for several years occupied by Tampa Tarp Inc. and Florida Umbrella Co. This Fox 13 Tampa Bay article and video published April 19, 2022 states that the building is now owned by the Boscaino family owners of Wine Stream who will restore the structure to house their wine business, with a wine bar and pizza parlor on the first floor, an Italian market on the second and an event or office space on the third. As can be seen in the pictures below, as of November 2025 restoration work is being done especially on the ground floor.