Perfecto Garcia & Bros. was established in 1905 by Oviedo, Spain born Perfecto Garcia (1870-1930) who arrived in Chicago from Cuba ca. 1895.   The other member of the firm were his brothers Angel José and Manuel who remained in Chicago running the fifteen or so cigar shops they owned in the Windy City and another brother who returned to Spain. 

Their first factory building 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. and 15th St. in Ybor City from where they moved here.  This three story 47,882 sq. ft. facilty at 2808 N 16th St. 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.  They rolled cigars here using tobacco grown on their family owned farms in Cuba.  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, Ill., announced that they were the new importer and sole distributor of Perfecto Garcia premium cigars, then manufactured in Nicaragua and once again, hand made.

The building located at 2808 N 16th St. 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 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.