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Ownership of two West Tampa cigar factories is in dispute
The Santaella Cigar Factory and Y. Pendas y Alvarez Cigar Factory are both over a century old.
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Updated May 24
TAMPA â Historic preservationists have not been happy with Michael Hettrichâs work on West Tampaâs 116-year-old Santaella Cigar Factory.
Now, it appears Hettrich, a 53-year-old resident of Sarasota, might be out of the factoryâs ownership group.
Hettrich is taking his former partners to court and demanding they pay what he says he is owed.
According to Hettrichâs civil lawsuit filed earlier this month with the Pinellas County Sixth Judicial Circuit, factory owners Phil Farley and Henry Bentley promised him a 20 percent ânon-votingâ interest in the Santaella, the Y. Pendas y Alvarez Cigar Factory also in West Tampa, and a Palmetto home if, for two years, he remained their employee providing âconstruction and property management services related to remodeling, re