LONG DELAY LIKELY IN REBUILDING PLAN FOR TIMES SQUARE

Conceding that the moment has come and gone for the vast redevelopment of Times Square, state and city officials are close to postponing indefinitely the four giant office towers that were supposed to lead 42d Street to a new day but ended up victims of a devastated market.

Rather than hold the Times Square Center project to the current timetable, which would probably force construction of the first skyscraper to begin next year, officials are asking the developers to revitalize for retail and entertainment use the four sites where the towers were to rise.

The Prudential Insurance Company of America and Park Tower Realty acquired the development rights to the parcels from the state in exchange for guarantees that included agreement that construction would follow a precise schedule. Governor Outlines Elements

"It's obvious now that real estate is overdeveloped for the time being," Gov. Mario M. Cuomo said in a telephone interview yesterday, "and, therefore, it doesn't make sense to go forward immediately with the building of the office towers. There's no market for them. To hold these people to the contract is to ask them to commit an act of economic self-mutilation."

He said economic-development officials had, in effect, told the developers: "We'll allow you to wait for the market to get better. In return, we'd like you to accelerate the cleanup."

Most tenants have already been removed from the sites, along Broadway and Seventh Avenue between 41st and 43d Streets. Many of the existing buildings could be pressed into service again, although others might have to be razed.

Under the proposed overhaul of the plan, the developers would be able to proceed with the office towers when the market has improved. But that could be 3 to 10 years distant, if not more.

What they would get out of the deal, if they agreed to it, would be protection of the $180 million investment they have already made in condemnation awards to property owners whose land has been taken by the state, in addition to tens of millions of dollars in development costs. They would keep their claim on the sites and avoid a potential default.

"We want the buildings, but we don't want them empty," said Vincent Tese, chairman and chief executive officer of the New York State Urban Development Corporation. "A default doesn't do us any good."

Times Square Center, as conceived, was the engine that was supposed to drive the rejuvenation of 42d Street. It was to have more than four million square feet of offices, equal to the floor area of four Chrysler Buildings. The problem is that since the deal was approved by the city's Board of Estimate in 1984, vacancy rates have soared in Manhattan, fueled by a construction boom followed by a recession.

State and city officials have been negotiating with the developers for several months and are apparently near agreement, although not all of the issues are resolved, including how much the developers would be required to invest in the revitalization project. However, Mr. Cuomo said that in general "there is no intention to relieve the developers of any obligation."

City officials, citing the confidentiality of negotiations in progress, declined to discuss the matter.

As part of the overhaul, the developers would not have to pay in advance for rebuilding the Times Square subway station, an amount that had been set at $91 million. At the outset, that would be left to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, with reimbursement to come eventually from the rental income of the office towers.

The developers, who are leasing the sites from the state, would continue to pay condemnation awards, which could cost them at least $60 million more than what they have already invested.

The developers would also contribute $18 million for the renovation of two historic playhouses: the Liberty Theater, 234 West 42d Street, and another house, probably the Victory Theater, 207 West 42d Street.

Efforts to "clean up" 42d Street, which is both a thriving commercial strip and a potent symbol of blight and crime, go back many years. The current plan includes Times Square Center, the renovation of nearby theaters and the construction of a wholesale trade mart and hotel on Eighth Avenue.

In 1982, Park Tower, headed by George Klein, and Prudential were designated as developers of the office towers. Their architects were Philip Johnson and John Burgee.

The largest building, on the site between 42d and 43d Streets where the Toffenetti's and Nathan's Famous restaurants operated for many years, was to have 56 stories and 1.5 million square feet of space.

Park Tower and Prudential were required to begin building one tower within a year of receiving the first sites from New York State in "vacant possession," that is, without tenants. This deadline would probably have been reached in September 1993. They would have had to complete the structure no later than September 1995, by which time they would also have had to start a second building. Delay Was Sought

About six months ago, Mr. Tese said, the developers approached officials in the hope of renegotiating.

"We told them we were amenable," he said, "except there were certain things that we wanted that were important to us and that ought to be important to them. We think we got spectacular results from a bad situation."

Rebecca Robertson, president of the 42d Street Development Project, a subsidiary of the state development agency, said, "The quid pro quo for not having to build is that you have to bring 42d Street back to life."

That is to be done according to a plan that would be devised over the next six months by architectural and retail consultants.

Under this new plan, for example, the Nathan's Famous building might be leased again, as might storefronts in the Longacre Building next door and in the Rialto Theater. Facades would be refurbished and new signs would be be added above them.

Tenants might include restaurants, jazz and supper clubs, snack bars, tourist-information offices, souvenir shops, music and book stores, newsstands and theaters where multimedia "spectaculars," geared to tourists might be presented.