ASBURY PARK, N.J., Feb. 15 - The Asbury Park City Council, under pressure to show more progress on redeveloping 56 acres on the blighted oceanfront, has given the master developer one month to negotiate changes in its agreement with the city to speed progress and prove its financial ability to fulfill the plan.

The attempt to push things along comes some four years after the city entered into the agreement with Asbury Partners, the developer.

But it has been a battle of more than 15 years since the town's first ambitious efforts to revive its oceanfront became mired in the bankruptcy of a developer, protracted litigation, corruption investigations and indictments of some appointed and elected town officials.

There has been some progress. Construction is under way on three condominium projects by major developers brought in by Asbury Partners within the redevelopment area, just blocks from the ocean: the whimsical South Beach-style Esperanza, 224 condomium units in 10- and 16-story buildings in the center of the redevelopment area; 146 town houses to the south on the shore of Wesley Lake; and a 156-unit condominium at the northern end of the redevelopment area.

The units, which areslated to sell for $400,000 to $1.1 million, represent 525 of the projected 3,100 residential units for the area.

But the resort town's trademark boardwalk buildings - the Convention Hall, pavilions, and the Casino and Paramount Theater buildings - which were the direct responsibility of Asbury Partners, remain ghostlike and largely vacant structures beside the Atlantic Ocean.

And while Victorian mansions in inland areas have been bought up and given new life, the defining symbol of the city today remains the rusting steel girders of an unfinished high-rise condominium building near the ocean that was abandoned 10 years ago when the first developer went bankrupt.

Since 2001, when Asbury Partners, a Lakewood-based real estate and development company, offered to take the reins of the redevelopment effort, there have been so many delays and other problems that they have spent only $5.5 million of an estimated $60 million in preparation work on the infrastructure of the area, city officials said.

This week, council members voted to give Asbury Partners until March 30 to amend their agreement with the city to create clear timetables for the redevelopment of the boardwalk buildings, produce a concept plan for their marketing, show clearer proof of financial ability, and set sanctions for failure to comply with the timetable.

Both city officials and Asbury Partners say they are making progress in their talks, but both sides have declared a "news blackout" on the negotiations and will not talk about specifics.

Deputy Mayor James Bruno, a member of the five-member City Council, said that the new deadline was established "because we were just sick of looking at those buildings down there," referring to the Beaux Arts Convention Hall and the other structures that the redeveloper bought from the city.

It is unclear how much leverage the city has to force Asbury Partners to speed things along. Further, there is a palpable fear that to push too hard could result in a round of litigation that would dwarf the nearly 10 years of delay and bankruptcy-related lawsuits that befell the city's first redeveloper.

"Maybe we should have demanded more from them earlier, but we are not out for revenge now," said Mr. Bruno, a two-term councilman who was part of a reform slate that welcomed Asbury Partners to town in 2001 when they offered to put up money to clear the properties from bankruptcy proceedings. "We just want them to live up to their part of the agreement."

"I don't think Asbury Partners shares our vision for the town," said James Keady, a recently elected councilman who is one of two members pressing for the amendments. " And I don't think they have the ability to perform."

It is not just the city or developers who have much at stake in the progress of Asbury Partners. For the last several years, individuals have invested heavily in the hopes of Asbury Park's rebirth and bought up sagging properties in and around the oceanfront redevelopment area at bargain prices in hopes of a future bonanza.

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