Edison Properties, the Newark-based real estate firm that controls Manhattan Mini Storage and a chain of parking lots, is converting a 110-year-old Newark warehouse building into a 7-story, 456,000-square-foot office-and-retail project.

The $80 million development reflects a changing of the guard at the real estate company, which was founded by Jerry Gottesman, who built a small parking business into a multibillion-dollar real estate empire spanning New Jersey and New York City.

Gottesman, who is still active in the company at age 86, has struggled to find a successor in recent years after his heir apparent abruptly resigned two years ago. His son-in-law, Gary DeBode, had wanted the firm to be more active in exploring opportunities to redevelop its properties, an ambition that chaffed against Gottesman's conservative business strategy.

Now Robert Selsam, chairman of Edison's board of directors; Ben Feigenbaum, the company's longtime chief operating officer; and Michael Sommer, a recently hired executive vice president, are spearheading the Newark project.

"Jerry is trusting in Ben and in me and in Michael to do this Newark project on our own, and he's very much enjoying that," said Selsam, a former top executive at Boston Properties. He had managed that firm's New York office.

Edison purchased the warehouse at 110 Edison Place in Newark about four years ago and in April broke ground on work to convert it into modern office and retail space. The firm is gut-renovating the building's interiors, installing new windows and elevators, and adding a penthouse level. That space will feature nearly 20-foot ceilings. Asking rents for the office space will be in the $30s per square foot, which Sommer says will attract both New Jersey– and Manhattan-based companies. The work is expected to be completed by the end of next year.

Edison owns nearly two dozen parcels in the city that are currently used as either parking lots or mini-storage sites, but it isn't yet clear if the company has any plans to redevelop any of them.

"It's not a strategic shift, if you will," Sommer said. "We're always looking to add value, and if the right opportunity makes sense, we'll spend a lot of time, and we'll work on it and think it through."

He added, "Jerry, I would say, is still working eight and a half days a week."