During the Loma Prieta Earthquake, the shear core of this building was extensively damaged even though the ground motion was slight. What made this unusual was that all of the upper floors were suspended from by steel straps over the top of the shear core; they were designed to remain stationary in space while an earthquake moved the shear core; the core was lightly reinforced because it was independent of the inertia from the floors. WCP&A was hired to investigate the cause of this damage and design a repair. During our investigation, we discovered that the floors were attached to the shear core during original construction. We also discovered that the building would fail its foundation and tip over during a maximum credible earthquake. We designed a new steel framed building that would surround the old building and double its floor space while modernizing its design.