A stroll through Duluth’s new downtown skywalk connection on Tuesday revealed a new long-term venture at 9 W. Superior St.

The Guiding Star Women’s Center plans to open a women’s pregnancy, labor and child care center run by non-profit groups in the summer or fall 2011. In addition, the center could include a coffee shop, a baby boutique and other shops on the ground level of the 16,000-square-feet space over three floors.

The intent would be “that anyone could come in to use in the building,” Leah Jacobson, chair of the Guiding Star Women’s Center board of directors, said of the retail space.

The first two hurdles for the center are getting commitments for up to seven local non-profits to have offices in the center and raising the estimated $2 million in funding to get the center built and begin programming. That capital campaign could take up to a year, with construction estimated at another nine months, Jacobson said.

Once funding is secure, Guiding Star hopes to have a fast construction period based off what Jacobson called “Extreme Makeover: Non-Profit Edition.”

“It’s all for a good cause, so we want to get people on board with that,” Jacobson said. “We hope for an accelerated construction process. When we get the money, we want to go.”