diff --git a/hbase-client/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/ipc/IPCUtil.java b/hbase-client/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/ipc/IPCUtil.java
index 8bee526e5be..42ad33a1e61 100644
--- a/hbase-client/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/ipc/IPCUtil.java
+++ b/hbase-client/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/ipc/IPCUtil.java
@@ -162,7 +162,7 @@ class IPCUtil {
 
   private static String getCallTarget(Address addr, RegionInfo regionInfo) {
     return "address=" + addr +
-      (regionInfo != null? ", region=" + regionInfo.getRegionNameAsString(): null);
+      (regionInfo != null? ", region=" + regionInfo.getRegionNameAsString(): "");
   }
 
   /**