ALLENTOWN, Pa. — A Lehigh Valley developer is suing the Allentown Redevelopment Authority over the sale of a former toy factory.

Nat Hyman filed the lawsuit in August. He claims his bid for the former toy factory, now a vacant building, on North 10th Street, was the highest of all offers, but that the redevelopment authority did not consider his offer in good faith and ultimately went with someone else because of bias.

The building used to be the Allentown Toy Manufacturing Company for decades, and closed at the end of 2021. The Redevelopment Authority of the City of Allentown (RACA) purchased the building in 2022 for $400,000. The authority put out a request for proposals (RFP) in early 2026.

Allentown Redevelopment Authority seeking visionaries for two prominent properties, including old toy factory

According to the lawsuit, Hyman Properties’ all-cash, $410,000 proposal would’ve converted the building into 20 affordable housing apartments with 20 parking spaces.

A competing proposal by Miln offered two options — a $350,000 bid to convert the building into 12 mixed-income units, six of which would be affordable housing, or a $300,000 purchase to create a childcare center and artisan studios. Both options came with eight parking spaces, the suit says.

The Allentown Redevelopment Authority selected Miln’s proposal.

The lawsuit says Miln representatives had a special, private meeting before the public one, and was able to submit additional documents supporting its proposal, which violates Pennsylvania’s Sunshine Act.

The Pennsylvania Sunshine Act requires all discussions of and meetings about proposals to be in a public and open setting.

Hyman says the evaluations of each bid shows the scoring was inconsistent, and that it doesn’t make sense, considering Hyman’s all-cash offer was the much higher than Miln’s, the suit says. The RFP had also said affordable housing was a priority.

The lawsuit says the evaluations show the personal bias of some or all of the evaluators, and that Hyman’s proposal was not considered in good faith.

It also claims the redevelopment authority has not released all of the surrounding documents in the case, including Miln’s full bid, despite a Right-To-Know request.

The redevelopment authority sent this statement to 69 News:

“The Redevelopment Authority of the City of Allentown is aware of the lawsuit filed by Hyman Properties LLC.  The Authority intends to vigorously defend itself from Mr. Hyman’s complaint and his attempts to exert improper influence over the board. The authority will not comment further on active litigation and looks forward to our Court hearing in September.”