Three companies have subleased more than 78,000 sf of space inthe 483,700-sf office tower, raising the building's occupancy rateto 87%. AON, a Chicago-based insurance company, recently subleasedmore than 26,000 sf. Locally based Cleardata.net, atelecommunications company, subleased 39,400 sf and another Phoenixtelecommunications firm, Netdirect, has leased 12,300 sf.

The Viad Corporate Center occupancy rate has hovered around 55%for the past four years, ever since once-giant Dial Corp. splitinto two companies, Dial and Viad, and moved its Dial headquartersout to cheaper digs near Scottsdale Airpark.

The new sublease activity reflects the turnaround in the officemarket in Uptown Phoenix. Less than two years ago, the Uptown arealagged every other submarket in town, with a vacancy rate above20%. But strong subleasing over the past several months has pushedthe Uptown vacancy factor down to about 13%, not much higher thanPhoenix's marketwide vacancy rate of 11.2%.