Former Paulie Gee’s space in Hampden will soon house another pizza spot

The former Paulie Gee’s space will soon have pizza in it again: A pizza and shaved ice concept is moving into the Hampden storefront.

The owners behind Key Neapolitan by Verde, a pizzeria, and Crushed Velvet, a dessert shop, announced on social media Monday that they will relocate from 1302 Key Highway to 3535 Chestnut Ave. in the coming months. The businesses closed their existing Key Highway spot over the weekend.

“The word is out!” Crushed Velvet posted on Instagram late Monday afternoon, linking to an article about the relocation from SouthBMore.com, which first reported the news.

Owners Kate Shotwell and Mack Fowler plan to merge their concepts at the Hampden spot, which they expect to open in May or June.

Shotwell said Monday evening that they initially wrote off moving into the Chestnut space because it was so much larger than their current location. The couple had been looking for new digs after struggling to agree upon lease terms with their current landlord. Shotwell said they considered a location elsewhere in Maryland, but ultimately didn’t want to leave Baltimore.

“We never wanted to go anywhere else,” she said, adding that the pair first met nine years ago at the Ottobar.

“I personally think doing the business together is strengthening and enriching to our relationship,” she said.

They plan on bringing their separate businesses together, with Shotwell’s shaved ice sold near the front and Fowler’s pizzas in the back. For the last three years, they served pizza and dessert seasonally, six months out of the year. Shotwell said the two are excited to finally make their venture a year-round event.

The new restaurant, which will be called Viale Pizza, is expected to take the Hawaiian-style shaved ices and signature pizzas from Fowler and Shotwell’s previous haunts to Hampden. Shotwell said that Ed Bosco, owner of Canton’s Verde Pizzeria and Fowler’s partner on the Key Neapolitan pizzeria, will not be involved.

When Key Neapolitan opened in Federal Hill in 2023, Bosco told The Banner it was part of an effort to spread his “wings a little bit‚“ adding that he hoped to open a second business at some point. The Key Highway shop offered a pared-down version of Verde’s menu with traditional pies from a wood-fired pizza oven. Shotwell said she and Fowler are looking forward to using the new location’s wood-fired ovens and potentially bringing private events into the space.

Hampden residents have waited more than a year to see what would fill Paulie Gee’s, which operated in the neighborhood for nearly 10 years. The Chestnut Avenue commercial space hosted a temporary pop-up bar this winter with Detroit-style pizza called Bar Santa, run by the team behind Charmery and Big Softy, but it has remained vacant since.

At the time of its closure in February 2025, Paulie Gee’s was the second beloved pizzeria to shutter in the neighborhood in a matter of months, following Arthouse, which had operated in the area for more than 10 years.