By the mid-1920s, two-thirds of American households had electricity, and demand for major appliances grew. While expensive for most, refrigerators replaced ice boxes, which were less efficient and needed a visit from the “ice man” every day. Started by Walton Byars and William Forgy in the late 1920s, Byars-Forgy was a Frigidaire dealer selling refrigerators with locations in both Tampa and St Petersburg. They soon became the exclusive Frigidaire distributor for the area. By the 1940s, they sold other major appliances, including stoves as well. Two firm associates, W.C. Oldt and B.W. Eddy, left in the late 1940s and began their own appliance store, Oldt-Waring, at 2506 MacDill Ave. Forgy became an investment banker and was appointed to the First National Bank of Tampa board.

This building was a former warehouse for Tarr Furniture Company in the 1920s.  Byars-Forgy moved to Adamo Drive in 1961 from this Twiggs and Ashley location as the city sought to clean up the Atlantic Coast Line riverfront property (now home to Curtis Hixon Park). The building was eventually leveled to become a parking lot. In 2019, plans were being made to build Arris, a 34-story, 80-unit condo tower on the lot. It was to have a 5,000-square-foot restaurant space with units selling from $600,000 to $ 2 million. Groundbreaking was to be in the spring of 2020. It never developed. In 2021, real estate developers the Kolter Group bought this and adjoining property and filed for permits to demolish the former Haverty Furniture building (seen in the Burgert photo) and construct a 55-story high-rise condominium. In early February 2023, the demolition began.

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