RUMBLINGS are growing louder inside and outside Condé Nast’s 4 Times Square headquarters that Paige Rense, the imperious and longtime editor-in-chief of Architectural Digest, will be gone before year’s end, and that a search for her successor has quietly begun.

If true, it may come as a surprise to Rense.

When we asked if she planned to step down, she replied through her assistant that the rumor was “absolutely untrue. I’ll step down when [Condé Nast Chairman] S.I. Newhouse Jr. steps down.”

And despite all the intense speculation in recent weeks, the company is standing by Rense.

“It is simply not true,” said Condé Nast spokeswoman Maurie Perl. “Beyond that, we have no further comment.”

Even so, many observers think Architectural Digest is in dire need of renovation, especially since ad pages have tumbled a whopping 50 percent through August to 476.4, according to Media Industry Newsletter.

What’s more, with House & Garden now shuttered, the status quo for the Los Angeles-based Architectural Digest seems to make less sense for a company facing a 32 percent decline in ad pages across the board.

Newhouse acquired Architectural Digest and food magazine Bon Appétit in 1993 from Cleon T. “Bud” Knapp for a reputed $170 million at a time when both titles had extremely strong circulation. Since then, however, the shelter magazine sector has collapsed.

Some sources think the study by management-consultant company McKinsey & Co. of Condé Nast’s operations will see a West Coast operation for two slumping magazines as an extravagant expense.

Rense is both feared and respected in the architectural world, as she has a reputation for banning architects who are featured in her magazine from appearing in rival titles.

Added one insider, “She has enormous influence with archi tects and designers, which means it wouldn’t be easy to find a replacement. On the other hand, it doesn’t help her win any popularity con tests.”

So who would be on the short list to replace her? If they want to go for a younger look, Debo rah Needleman, ed itor-in-chief of the now-defunct Domino could be a candidate. Stephen Drucker of House Beautiful is another, as is Margaret Russell, the editor-in-chief of Elle Décor.

From Afar

There was a rarity in New York City on Tuesday night — a party to celebrate the launch of a new magazine.

The magazine is Afar, a travel title that is being backed by industry outsider Greg Sullivan, who has pledged to spend $10 million of his own money to get Afar going.

The first issue hits this week with 25 ad pages from 36 advertisers, which in and of itself is an accomplishment.

“Some of them were barter, but most were paid,” Sullivan said.

Sullivan concedes his newest venture will probably take four years before the bi-monthly turns a profit, but he said hopefully, “I think we’ve hit a responsive chord.”

Cheap Vibe

InterMedia Advisors did not exactly pay big bucks to outbid Quincy Jones for Vibe magazine.

Sources say the payout was in the mid-six-figure range, which means that Capital Source, which put in $20 million, took a haircut, as did Wicks Group, which paid $35 million for the hip-hop magazine in 2006.

The magazine plans to re-launch as a Web site in two weeks and as a 300,000 circulation quarterly in November, under the auspices of Uptown Media.

InterMedia, headed by Leo Hindery, already owns Soul Train, which it plans to re-launch later this year.

His return

Elaine Kaufman, the well-known proprietor of Elaine’s, will be happy to know that former New York and Los Angeles police commissioner William Bratton plans to remain loyal to the Upper East Side watering hole where he was a regular when he was heading the NYPD.

While Bratton already has been seen popping into Graydon Carter‘s Monkey Bar and Waverly Inn, he left no doubt as to what his local hangout will be, particularly now that he has a book deal in place.

“I’ll always be loyal to Elaine,” he said. “And inasmuch as I’ll be a writer for the second time, it seems very appropriate.”

Yesterday, Broad way Books, an im print of Crown at Random House Inc., said that the former top cop is going to team up with management expert Zachary Tumin, an associate director for programs in technology, networks and government at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, to write a new management/self-help book tentatively titled “Collaboration Or Perish!”

The book deal was brokered by Alice Martell, and is estimated to have fetched a mid-six-figure advance for the duo.

Julia lives

Julia Child’s landmark book, “Mastering the Art of French Cooking,” has never gone out of print, but it hadn’t turned up on bestseller lists until this week.

The book, first published by Knopf in 1961, was propelled to the No. 1 spot on Amazon and BarnesandNoble.com following the release of the new movie “Julie & Julia.”

It debuted on USA Today’s bestseller list yesterday and will be No. 6 on Pub lisher’s Weekly’s list next week.

Last year, the book sold 25,000 copies. This year, the publisher put another 225,000 copies in print. keith.kelly@nypost.com