For nearly a century, the J.E. Corcoran Co. has hawked fruits and vegetables from the Strip District's iconic produce terminal. But a proposed redevelopment could end its long run.

Officials with the Corcoran Co. and other wholesalers said Tuesday they expected to be moved out of the Smallman Street terminal, a local landmark, as part of a grand vision laid out by Mayor Luke Ravenstahl to redevelop 80 acres of land along the Allegheny River, from the Strip to Lawrenceville.

"I think all of the businesses feel that our days are numbered in the produce terminal," said John Patalano, master roaster at La Prima Espresso Co., which has occupied a spot in the building for the last 15 years.

While Mr. Ravenstahl said at a news conference that he is committed to preserving the businesses and the 175 jobs that go with them, he would not guarantee that they would remain in the terminal, formally known as Pennsylvania Railroad Fruit Auction Building.

"I don't really have an answer to that. They have leases through at least 2012 and, again, it's something that will be determined in the future. But we're going to work with them to make sure their interests are met throughout the entire process," he said.

But Linda Sasinoski, controller for J.E. Corcoran, said wholesalers already have been told by the city Urban Redevelopment Authority, the building's owner, that they would be relocated as part of the riverfront plan.

"We're definitely going to be out of here," she said.

If wholesalers must move, Ms. Sasinoski would like the city to find another spot for them where they can stay together.

"We're not bucking the riverfront progress at all. We just want to keep the produce industry as a whole," she said.

Still, for Ms. Sasinoski and Anthony Vivirito, the J.E. Corcoran president, a move would be bittersweet. The company, with 26 employees, has sold produce out of the terminal for the last 93 years. Mr. Vivirito has been there for 53 of them.

"We're not fighting the change. We just have to worry about ourselves right now. But it will be sentimental and a big change. That's for sure," Ms. Sasinoski said. "It's sad. It's very sad."

Brad Kokowski, owner of Superior Produce, another wholesaler, said he's not happy about the prospect of being booted from the terminal, but will accept it if the city can find a place where the businesses can stay together.

Mr. Kokowski said he appealed to the mayor several years ago, the last time there was talk about removing wholesalers, about how integral they were to the character of the terminal and the Strip.

Without them, he said, "Why call it the Strip anymore? Change it to something else. That's the way I feel about it."

The wholesalers offer good-paying union jobs, he noted. He fears that once they're gone, the produce terminal will become filled with coffee shops and common urban retail outlets paying minimum wage and diminishing the Strip's charm.

"We have Station Square. Is that doing so hot? You know what I mean? We have all these places not doing so hot. Mini-malls popping up everywhere. Do we really need that?" he asked.

Mark Mitchell, manager of Jeff's Flowers, another wholesaler, is hoping cooler heads will prevail and that he and others will be able to remain in the terminal. But he's not counting on it.

"I'd like to believe that, but commerce, in the new suburbanization of the building, is going to take precedence over that," he said.

"In the end, predominantly, the old ways lose out to the new. I think the Strip is probably the last bastion of what Pittsburgh used to be, at least a certain flavor of it."

The terminal building would be one of the sites targeted as part of the proposed redevelopment. The others would be the 22-acre, URA-owned Tippins International site at 62nd Street in Lawrenceville and Buncher Co. properties in the Strip behind the produce terminal and in Lawrenceville.

Buncher will partner with the city in redeveloping the 80 acres, but its exact role has yet to be defined. The URA board will vote Thursday on whether to enter into a letter of intent with Buncher to "consider a master development agreement for actions" along the riverfront relating to the sites.

Tom Balestrieri, Buncher Co. chief executive officer and president, said at the minimum the firm would like to develop the land it owns in the Strip behind the produce terminal and in Lawrenceville, but is open to other assignments as well.

"We will certainly offer our capabilities to develop segments along the riverfront that we feel we are capable of performing. But, certainly, if there are other folks that are better at it than we are, we have no problem with it," he said.

A proposed master plan envisions about 1,000 units of riverfront housing in the Strip on what is now land used for parking, said Stephen Quick, principal in Perkins Eastman, the firm overseeing development.

Additional riverfront housing is proposed in Lawrenceville.

Becky Rodgers, executive director of Neighbors in the Strip, said another part of the plan incorporates some type of entertainment venue near the convention center.

As for whether wholesalers will remain in the produce terminal, she said it's still too early to say, although she added they are important to the Strip and its history.

"I think it's up to everyone to work together to see if that location or another location nearby would best serve the interests of the wholesale people," she said.

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