August 17, 1986

AS the population of this old railroad crossroads moved West in the 1960's and 70's, the downtown hotels, department stores and many offices followed, leaving old and handsome but vacant buildings behind. Over the past few years, the city has been encouraging developers to transform them into apartments and create a new residential area. ''We're trying to establish downtown as a mixed-use neighborhood where people live and eat as well as work and shop,'' said Martin Shukert, the city planning director. He said about 500 renovated apartments were completed or planned.

The Mets' storybook season took a jolt yesterday when Gary Carter, their All-Star catcher, went on the disabled list for 15 days after he suffered a partial tear of the outer ligament in his left thumb while playing first base against the St. Louis Cardinals. Carter was hurt as he was making a diving backhand stop in the third inning of the Mets' 3-1 loss in 11 innings. His hand and wrist were wrapped in a cast, where they will remain for one week. Then he will need a week of exercises to regain the strength in his hand.

Wise Times, the little colt who charged from far back to score an upset on a sloppy track in the Haskell Handicap three weeks ago, proved that it was no fluke today. In a virtual rerun, he looped the field and splashed to the wire to win the $294,500 Travers Stakes by a head at Saratoga Race Track. Broad Brush, who surged to the lead at the furlong pole, finished second by 1 1/4 lengths over Danzig Connection, the 6-to-5 favorite in the absence of Ogygian, scratched this morning because of the sloppy track. After a stewards' inquiry, however, Broad Brush was disqualified and placed fourth for angling out into Personal Flag down the stretch. Danzig Connection, who had finished 1 1/4 lengths behind Broad Brush, was moved up to second, and Personal Flag, who had finished another head back in fourth after being checked, was placed third. Scrimshaw, Moment of Hope and Waikiki Star brought up the rear in that order.

AMID crib toys, teddy bears and some of medicine's most sophisticated equipment, children - from infants to teen-agers - are recuperating from heart surgery in the new pediatric cardiac surgical intensive-care unit at Children's Hospital of New Jersey here. The eight-bed unit, the only one of its kind in the state, was dedicated this month. It is, officials say, a sign of the growing success of the hospital's seven-year-old pediatric heart surgery program, now the second largest in the New York metropolitan area Only Baby's Hospital at Presbyterian Medical Center in Manhattan has more young heart-surgery patients; Deborah Heart and Lung Center in Browns Mills in Burlington County has the only other pediatric cardiac-surgery program in New Jersey. Last year, surgeons at Children's Hospital, a division of United Hospitals Medical Center, operated on 185 children with heart or circulation problems that otherwise might have crippled or killed them. About half the cases were open-heart procedures; the rest were ''closed-heart'' operations to correct vessels leading to the heart or lungs.

ONCE the ITT Corporation had decided to sell part of its telecommunications business to a French company, Rand V. Araskog, ITT's chairman, made an announcement that says a great deal about corporate America's current priorities. Mr. Araskog told securities analysts early this month that his board of directors would consider using the $1.5 billion from the sale to reduce the company's debt or to make a small acquisition. But, he added, stock repurchases are ''very much on the minds of the directors,'' and ITT could proceed with a ''consequential program.'' Wall Street, which has been buoyed by a wave of stock buybacks in the last three years, beamed at the news. ITT's stock went up more than three points, or six percent, in the week after Mr. Araskog's comments. And ITT is hardly alone in profiting from a buyback strategy - or even the hint of one. Buybacks are taking corporate America by storm. The list of prosperous repurchasers is vast and diverse, including such companies as Ford Motor, I.B.M., American Express, Exxon, Consolidated Edison, Merck, Westinghouse and the Trans World Corporation. And more and more companies are getting into the act. Many say, simply, that there is little else worth doing with their cash: Buybacks, they claim, are among the best investments around these days.