A New York City celebrity dentist is suing a residential cooperative board over a rule requiring tenants to pay for another doorman to accommodate extra foot traffic at the building that houses his practice, according to a story published on March 12 in The Real Deal.
Dr. Marc Lowenberg, of Lowenberg, Lituchy and Kantor, which owns shares in the 75-unit co-op and occupies the first and second floors of the building in New York City, filed a lawsuit against the Central Park South residential co-op board claiming that its new rule is arbitrary, unreasonable, and unfairly targets his practice.
The new rule, which took effect in December 2025, calls for tenants to pay for an extra doorman whenever 30 or more individuals arrive within a four-hour window. If the rule is permitted to stand, the dentist claims it will cost the practice more than $180,000 annually, according to the story.
The dental practice and a medical office are the co-op’s only two commercial tenants. However, the new rule doesn’t affect the medical office, because its visitors access it from the street, according to the story.
For decades, the practice has had a revolving door of A-list patients, including models Heidi Klum, Naomi Campbell, and Cindy Crawford and comedian Chris Rock.
Despite the practice’s big-name clientele, the foot traffic appears to be too much for the board. Lowenberg claimed in the lawsuit that tensions have been rising between him and the co-op board for months. One heated exchange involved a co-op board member allegedly physically confronting Lowenberg, according to the story.
In the lawsuit, Lowenberg is asking a judge to eliminate the new rule, claiming there is nothing in its lease with the cooperative that requires an individual shareholder to pay for a building-wide service, according to the story.
