For years, Barney Cane and Arthur B Van Huben operated a car towing service at the corner of Florida Ave and Polk Street. They took possession of a Holmes automobile wrecker the year they opened in 1921. It was one of the first wreckers in the city, allowing it to offer towing and storage much like today's firms. Teams of horses were used before the advent of tow trucks. The vehicle had two booms, each capable of carrying 7,000 pounds. Cane and Van Huben also operated the Reagin-Denton Motors Co., a garage and repair shop at this exact location.

In 1937, Sears and Roebuck constructed a 2-story, 24,000 sq. ft. new store on this corner and moved from their former location on north Franklin St. The store flourished being directly across Florida Ave from the Kress block and the rest of the central retail shopping hub on Franklin Steet. They closed this location in 1958, and the building was demolished. A surface parking lot was opened that same year. The 17-story Sam Gibbons U.S. District Courthouse was built in the mid-1990s and opened in 1998.

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