Frustrated by redevelopment delays that threaten to put them out of business, a coalition of Ports O’ Call merchants has proposed its own plan to spruce up the struggling waterfront shopping district.

The plan, which would cost an estimated $250,000 to $500,000 to implement, calls for consolidating existing businesses into a more centralized location. Six rundown buildings would be torn down to provide the first unobstructed views of the waterfront from Harbor Boulevard since Ports O’ Call Village opened in 1963.

The association hopes to begin work immediately after Labor Day with an eye toward completion by the end of the year. The Board of Harbor Commissioners is expected to consider the proposal next month.

Some 400 members who attended a recent San Pedro community meeting on the revitalization efforts were surprised to learn that development was to be delayed at least two years.

A preliminary study of the Port of Los Angeles area concluded that major upgrades of the surrounding neighborhoods would be needed before it would be economically feasible for investors to restore the buildings.

But with half of the 45 merchants already having gone under or moved away since 1993 and a slew of vacant, dilapidated buildings keeping away would-be customers, most of the remaining 32 tenants say they will go out of business if they have to wait another two years.

Overall sales have plunged to $5 million last year from an estimated $15 million in 1992, according to Jayme Wilson, president of the Ports O’ Call Merchants Association.

“There are tenants that are having trouble getting through the summer and don’t know how they will survive the winter,” said Wilson, who for 19 years operated Spirit Cruises in the village. “You currently have to walk past a bunch of vacant stores to get to a store that’s open. By the time you get there all the closed stores have put you out of the mood to buy something.”

Commission President John Wentworth said he believes that funding will be given for the emergency plan. Those same commissioners are funding $1 billion worth of expansion projects highlighted by the creation of Piers 300 and 400.

“It would politically be very difficult to oppose it,” said Wentworth. “There is a very significant (resident) center in San Pedro that speaks with a very loud voice. The community was not happy with a two-year delay. They want some refurbishment of the Ports O’ Call.”

Trammell Crow Co., which was hired by the port to devise a long-term redevelopment plan for the entire waterfront, told San Pedro residents this spring that there would be no market for an upscale retail and restaurant district until in-land improvements were complete.

Preliminary plans include development of upscale and middle-class housing in neighborhoods adjacent to the waterfront, dramatic road and beautification improvements to Harbor Boulevard and the creation of a new park at 22nd and Miner streets.

The association’s plans are the latest in a range of strategies designed to breathe some economic life into the waterfront area. They include an $8 million project to bring back the Red Car trolley system for the first time in four decades.