The near century-old two-story home more than showed its age, Ice said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe used to live up the road on another street, and this house was empty and abandoned,\u201d he said. \u201cThe windows were boarded up, some were busted in, but we loved it. It was always our dream house. It just didn\u2019t quite look like it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
It was one of the larger homes in the neighborhood, at about 4,200 square feet, that had a cool brick look, a big \u2014 but collapsed \u2014 front porch and, that rarity for the area, a basement, Ice said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It also had that all-important word in renovation: potential, he said.<\/p>\n
Ice, who by that time had established his business 6th Ave Homes, which buys, sells, does design work on old homes as well as new construction in the style of older houses, tried to purchase the property, which had gone into foreclosure. He finally purchased it at the courthouse steps for $1 more than the asking price.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou couldn\u2019t touch that today,\u201d he said of the deal.<\/p>\n
Once inside their dream home, the couple learned some of it was a bit more of a nightmare. Cheap, weathered vinyl covered much of the floor, and leaks were \u201call over the place,\u201d Ice said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
When he ripped out the flooring, he uncovered a bit more of the original house.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt has these beautiful longleaf pine floors. Oh wow, just a dream,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Good bones, as home remodelers love to find. Still, the house came with its share of old-house headaches.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe doors weren\u2019t great in the summer, and then in the winter, they shifted and everything sticks. Everything that was too loose was now too tight,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
But gradually, they brought it back to life.<\/p>\n
\u201cI love the creak of old wood. The house had soul, I knew that,\u201d Ice said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The house is not far from Brewed, the restaurant\/coffee shop\/bar, which Ice co-owns.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cBrewed was just getting going when we moved, so we were right down the street,\u201d he recalled. \u201cMelissa was just getting The Net FW (a nonprofit that fights sex trafficking) going, which is not far either. So we were just in this little Magnolia-area bubble as we worked on the house.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite touring as part of Green River Ordinance, a successful rock band that he and his brother started at Paschal High School, Ice is a big fan of staying local.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve traveled the world, but this is my 3-mile-radius bubble,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He loves the area\u2019s walkability. And while Magnolia has changed from when Ice was a kid, some things have stayed the same \u2014 namely Benito\u2019s, the Mexican restaurant that opened in 1981, long before the area was considered anything near \u201chip.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
It was \u2014 and is \u2014 his dad\u2019s favorite restaurant.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are like two restaurants he will eat in because most are too loud and busy for him, but we grew up going there, and we still go there,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And he is a big fan of the community spirit of the Fairmount neighborhood that he attributes, in part, to the front porches.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople see their neighbors,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen I get home from work and the kids are out front, running around with the other kids, it has this old, old world throwback feel to it. I love it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
As they built their life in the home, Ice wondered about the families that had lived there. He knew only that the house had three previous owners.<\/p>\n
About six months ago, he started getting phone calls from a number with a Los Angeles area code.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t usually answer calls from numbers I don\u2019t know,\u201d Ice said.<\/p>\n
Then he received a text. It said: \u201cI\u2019m a rabbi, and I lived in your house 70 years ago. I\u2019m in Fort Worth for 24 hours.\u201d<\/p>\n
He looked her up: Rabbi Anne Brener, an author, speaker and podcast host.\u00a0<\/p>\n
They got together, and Ice learned a lot about the house he thought he would never know.<\/p>\n
\u201cTurns out her grandfather, a Polish immigrant, built the house in 1919,\u201d he said. Brener recalled her aunts dancing in the kitchen to the radio and her father\u2019s downtown tailoring business.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Then she noticed one of Ice\u2019s tattoos on his arm.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The tattoo is from Exodus 15, verse 2: \u201cThe Lord is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI probably got it when I was 20, but the verse resonated with me,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd there was this female rabbi from LA, and she\u2019s got this funky jewelry and funky glasses and this big bubbly personality. And we\u2019re in my kitchen, and she just started singing this, that verse, in Hebrew because I guess there\u2019s a song behind it.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was one of the coolest things that\u2019s ever happened to me,\u201d Ice said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Brener didn\u2019t have long to stay, but she made an impression.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cOne reason she wanted to see the house is because she\u2019s writing a novel based on her early life, and the house is in the novel,\u201d he said. \u201cSo who knows, I may learn more.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
For Ice, the meeting was a chance to be reminded why he loves real estate and old homes.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s always about so much more than just buildings,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ve always known that, but it helps to be reminded every once in a while.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Jamey Ice has lived in the same three-mile radius his entire life, a fact of which he is very proud. <\/p>\n
Fairmount<\/strong><\/p>\n Total population<\/strong>: 3,446 Age<\/strong><\/p>\n 0-9: 20% Education<\/strong> Race<\/strong> Click on the link to view the schools\u2019 Texas Education Agency ratings:<\/p>\n Trimble Technical High School<\/a><\/p>\n Success High School<\/a><\/p>\n Daggett Middle School<\/a><\/p>\n Young Women\u2019s Leadership Academy<\/a><\/p>\n World Languages Institute<\/a><\/p>\n Lily B. Clayton Elementary<\/a><\/p>\n Daggett Elementary<\/a><\/p>\n De Zavala Elementary<\/a><\/p>\n Daggett Montessori<\/a><\/p>\n Texans Can Academy \u2013 Fort Worth Lancaster Avenue<\/a><\/p>\n Paschal High School\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n Morningside Middle School<\/a><\/p>\n Alice Carlson Applied Learning Center<\/a><\/p>\n Carroll Peak Elementary<\/a><\/p>\n George Clarke Elementary<\/a><\/p>\n Van Zandt-Guinn Elementary<\/a><\/p>\n Morningside Elementary<\/a><\/p>\n Edward Briscoe Elementary<\/a><\/p>\n Bob Francis is business editor for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at bob.francis@fortworthreport.org<\/a>. \n\tRelated\n<\/p>\n Fort Worth Report is certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative<\/a> for adhering to standards for ethical journalism.<\/p>\n Republish This Story<\/p>\n
Female: 49% |\u00a0Male: 51%<\/p>\n
10-19: 6%
20-29: 10%
30-39: 28%
40-49: 9%
50-59: 10%
60-69: 10%
70-79: 5%
80 and older: 0%<\/p>\n
No degree: 15%
High school: 15%
Some college: 15%
Bachelor\u2019s degree: 34%\u00a0Post-Grad: 21%<\/p>\n
White: 72% | Asian: 2% | Hispanic: 23% | Black: 2% | Two or more: 2%<\/p>\n
At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here<\/a>.<\/p>\n
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