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By Emily Friedlander for The Wall Street Journal

The news today that the estate of real-estate baroness Leona Helmsley has signed a deal to sell a deal to sell one of its trophy properties–the Helmsley Carlton House on Manhattan’s East Side-raises many interesting issues about the commercial real estate market.

The $170 million sale marks the first deal the estate—whose mandate is to liquidate all the holdings—has brought to the market. It also shows that demand for stabilized and quality properties is increasing, as the WSJ’s Lingling Wei writes.

But perhaps the most interesting question: What happened to that dog? The canine in question is Trouble Helmsley, the beloved Maltese poodle left behind by the late Leona Helmsley who died in 2007.

Trouble initially inherited a $12 million trust fund, which was later reduced to $2 million by a Manhattan judge in 2008, at the request of Trouble’s trustees. (The remainder went to charity.)

That’s “enough money to pay for Trouble’s maintenance and welfare at the highest standards of care for more than 10 years, which is more that twice her reasonably anticipated life expectancy,” said the general manager of the Helmsley Sandcastle Hotel, where the dog now resides, in an affidavit.

Life is good for Trouble, infamously dubbed “rich bitch,” by the NY Post: “Trouble is no trouble. She is alive and well and thriving,” says Howard Rubenstein, the spokesman for the Helmsley estate.

The dog’s security costs the Helmsley estate $100,000 a year.