Commercial Property: 57th Street; A New Glitter Added to a Premier Retail Boulevard

While much around it seems to be moribund, 57th Street is showing signs of vitality, with several significant projects nearing completion or under way. The Japanese are prominent, with other players coming from London, Paris, Munich and - perhaps - Redmond, Wash.

Certainly the most visible Japanese enterprise is the 22-story building known as Plaza 57 at Nippon Club Tower, between Seventh Avenue and the Avenue of the Americas, developed by Amtad New York, a subsidiary of the Takenaka Corporation of Tokyo.

This is the first New York venture for Takenaka, which started in Japan as a shrine builder (''miyadaiku'') in 1610. Its architects designed Plaza 57, whose facade is meant to be an abstract rendering of the Manhattan street grid, complete with the diagonal interruption of Broadway.

The Japanese are playing a major role in other projects, too. The New York branch of Fuji Bank, of Tokyo, was the construction lender for Carnegie Hall Tower, near Seventh Avenue, which is close to completion. And EIE International of Tokyo, headed by Harunori Takahashi, is the owner and developer of the 46-story, 400-room Regent of New York Hotel, which is starting to emerge on the block between Park and Madison Avenues.

''We believe 57th Street is one of Manhattan's major east-west thoroughfares,'' said Masaatsu Ohga, secretary and chief representative of Amtad New York, ''and that it has strong potentialities in the future.''

Mr. Ohga said 57th Street would be ''a corridor toward West Side development,'' including Columbus Circle and the Hudson River yards that are now owned by Donald J. Trump. Takenaka looks to the long term and ''sooner or later,'' Mr. Ohga said, he expects construction at those sites.

Plaza 57 is to be substantially completed next spring. The second through seventh floors will house the 85-year-old Nippon Club, which owns the site and had its clubhouse there until construction began. (The club, a social and financial hub of the Japanese community, is temporarily housed at the Galleria, 115 East 57th Street.) Above the club will be 14 floors for offices, ranging from 3,000 to 4,100 square feet. The building will be divided into condominium units, with the Nippon Club owning its space and Takenaka owning the commercial tower.

Across from Plaza 57 is Carnegie Hall Tower, built by the Rockrose Development Corporation, whose principals are the brothers Henry, Tom and Fred Elghanayan. The first tenants may be in by January.

''Given the fact that this is a lousy market, we're actually leasing,'' Henry Elghanayan said. ''I don't think many people who've opened buildings now can say that.''

Three leases have been signed for the 60-story, 535,000-square-foot skyscraper, which was designed by Cesar Pelli. The premier tenant to date is EMI Music Worldwide, whose headquarters will take up about 25,000 square feet on the 41st through 43d floors. A division of Thorn EMI of London, EMI Music is an international record company whose best known labels include Capitol and Angel. Its offices, which were once in London, are now at 810 Seventh Avenue, at 53d Street.

Mr. Elghanayan also said that the Bank of Boston had taken two floors, with a total of about 20,000 square feet, as had the law firm of Grubman & Indursky.

Asked to explain 57th Street's attraction, even in a soft market, Mr. Elghanayan said: ''It has a lot of Old World-type buildings on it that, fortunately, have been maintained. You could almost be in Paris, walking on 57th Street - versus walking on Sixth Avenue. And that means something to tenants.''

Slightly to the left of Carnegie Hall Tower and the Russian Tea Room is Metropolitan Tower, a 65-story commercial and residential skyscraper that was begun by Harry Macklowe in the early 80's.

''A lot of people were quite surprised that Harry was going to build a residential building west of Fifth Avenue,'' recalled Kent M. Swig, executive vice president of the Macklowe Organization. ''It was definitely pioneering, in most people's minds, but to Harry, it was logical. His vision was that 57th Street was one of the major streets and that the growth was westward.''

Today, about 95 percent of the condominium apartments have been sold, according to Mr. Swig, and all 225,000 square feet of commercial space are leased.

Elsewhere on the West Side, the fancy shoe store of Susan Bennis Warren Edwards has moved into No. 20 and the Charivari boutique, at No. 18, is expanding.

Closer to Fifth Avenue, large question marks hang over the space occupied by the Henri Bendel store, at 10 West 57th Street, which is owned by a group of investors doing business as the Delben Corporation, and the Festival Theater, next door at No. 6, which is owned by Sheldon Solow.

Bendel is scheduled to move next spring virtually around the corner, to David S. Solomon's 712 Fifth Avenue project. It is not clear who will take the 57th Street space. While the Festival is still a cinema, Mr. Solow has been searching nearly a year for a retail tenant.

''This landlord has a greater view than the leasing of one retail space,'' said C. Bradley Mendelson, managing director of the Edward S. Gordon brokerage, which represents Mr. Solow. ''He's only going to lease to the type of retailer, esthetically and financially, that will improve the street. The face of West 57th Street will change dramatically. Those renting will be responsible for the direction it takes.''

Among the higher quality retail tenants now shopping for space along 57th Street is Eddie Bauer, the 70-year-old outdoor outfitter from Redmond, Wash. ''There is a strong presence of Eddie Bauer costumers on that street,'' said Steven B. Greenberg, of the Greenberg Group of Hewlett, L.I., a broker and real-estate adviser to the store.

Mr. Greenberg has studied other retailers on the street. ''The 57th Street location represents the chain leader in volume for many of those retailers,'' he said. ''It is not necessarily the most profitable store in the chain, because the occupancy and operating costs are so dramatically high.''

Mr. Greenberg said Eddie Bauer is looking for ''an Old World presentation, a building that has some charm and ambience.''

None of 57th Street's charms could salvage Bonwit Teller, which closed earlier this year. But its 85,000-square-foot space in Trump Tower, with a principal entrance on 57th Street, has been taken by France's largest department store, Galeries Lafayette. The store opening is planned in 1991.

The most noticeable recent addition to the block east of Fifth Avenue is the construction barricade that now wraps No. 7, proclaiming it to be the future home of Escada, a women's clothing and accessories store whose parent company is in Munich. Escada is leasing the five-story building for at least 20 years and adding one floor to the top.

''We firmly believe that this is the premier retail street - not only in the city or country but in the world,'' said Mitchell Simbal, vice president of Escada U.S.A. Retail. ''It's one of the best line-ups of retail tenants in the world.'' Escada's neighbors include Ann Taylor at No. 3, Chanel at No. 5 (naturally), Burberrys at No. 9 and Hermes at No. 11.