The Well Co. owner Melanie Dubbin purchased the former Kaski Inc. headquarters at 2321 W. First St. in Lincoln Park. She will be relocating her business into the historic former Duluth Public Market building this spring. (Photo by Mark Nicklawske)

A Hermantown hub for healing massage and holistic health is adding a natural food cafe to its services and will relocate into a remodeled, historic building in Lincoln Park this spring.

The Well Co. owner Melanie Dubbin purchased the former Kaski Inc. construction headquarters at 2321 W. First St. in November. St. Louis County property records show Dubbin paid $742,000 for the 6,800-square-foot building which was constructed in 1925.

Dubbin said she plans to move her 27-employee operation from its current base at Gordy’s Plaza, 4897 Miller Trunk Highway, in May. The new Lincoln Park spa will include a permanent location for Mama Roots juice bar, a popular plant-based Duluth food truck.

The Well Co. has been located for a decade in Hermantown. The Lincoln Park move will more than double its space. Dubbin said the added indoor and outdoor area will allow for all kinds of new services and amenities, like the cafe, a music and performance space, a patio and two saunas. There will also be room for educational programming.

“It will be a collective of different things for wellness,” she said. “And we’re all going to be under one roof.”

The Well Co. has been located in Gordy’s Plaza on Miller Trunk Highway in Hermantown for 10 years. (Photo by Mark Nicklawske)

Dubbin said consolidating a wide variety of therapeutic services in one location has been a longtime plan. She said with so many specialists gathered together, regular clients or new visitors will find it easy to discover different treatments.

“It’s like: ‘Bring your torch here. Let’s all be together.’ So that people don’t have to go to every different brick-and-mortar to find something they like,” she said. “Everything is right here.”

The Well Co. offers a full slate of message and wellness services like cupping, stone and spectrum massage, deep foot massage, facials, mud detox and targeted relief. The Lincoln Park expansion will include an indoor and an outdoor sauna and bath house. The Mama Roots cafe will create wellness and healing through locally-sourced, high-nutrient, plant-based smoothies and juice drinks.

“It’s really beautiful,” said Dubbin. “If you take a sauna and you want to come over and have a juice, it ties really well because you sauna and you sweat — you get depleted — so it’s like that beautiful restoration. It’s all right here.”

Mama Roots owner Desiree Jenkins-Hamel will park her food truck indefinitely and open a permanent cafe and juice bar in The Well Co. complex in Lincoln Park. (Image via Mama Roots website)

The Mama Roots cafe will be open to the public like a typical coffee shop or cafe.

Mama Roots owner Desiree Jenkins-Hamel said she will put food truck operations on hold while she operates at The Well Co. complex. Jenkins-Hamel launched the Mama Roots food truck in 2020 and recently spent nine months operating in the Miller Hill Mall food court in 2025.

“I was just trying out a storefront feel there,” she said. “Probably not my ideal placement for my clientele but it was really nice to get that exposure.”

Jenkins-Hamel said customers discovered plant-based smoothies can be a healthy replacement for standard lunchtime fare and she liked having a permanent space. After closing shop at Miller Hill Mall, Jenkins-Hamel learned about Lincoln Park The Well Co. development and met with Dubbin for a building tour.

Dubbin has designed and completed much of the renovation work. Former garage bays, where contractors parked heavy equipment, have been transformed into a beautiful earth-toned lounge and cafe where Mama Roots will serve up menu items.

The Well Co owner Melanie Dubbin stands inside renovated heavy equipment garage bays at the former Kaski Inc. construction headquarters. The room will now be home to Mama Roots cafe as part of the new Lincoln Park wellness center. (Photo by Mark Nicklawske)

“I’m really excited, this is a vision I’ve wanted for so long,” said Hamel-Jenkins. “I truly believe food is healing and I know Mel is aligned with that with her services. It’s nice to have a hub where people can go to whether you’re going to get a massage, sauna or facial. Or you can come in and just enjoy the food. It’s a space where you can relax and heal your body with good, nurturing food.”

“She’s an expert in her arena. She takes nutrients really seriously,” said Dubbin. “So we can trust she’s going to make amazing food for people.”

Dubbin, a Silver Bay native, studied massage at Lake Superior College in Duluth 18 years ago. She began renting tables at the Hermantown-based Color Lounge in 2012, where her business started to grow. She said she has long dreamed about creating a wellness collective in the Twin Ports.

“It’s in my soul,” she said, following a building tour. “All of it, it’s all finally coming together here.”

According to Duluth Public Library city directories, 2321 W. First St. was used as the Duluth Public Market from 1926 to the late 1940s. In the two decades that followed, it housed the Veteran’s Housing repair shop. The building stood vacant in the 1970s and 1980s until a series of building contractors took over the space starting in the 1990s. Kaski Inc. has relocated to new garage and offices on Martin Road.

The Well Co. renovation will transform this former contractor workshop into 10 new massage rooms. (Photo by Mark Nicklawske)