diff --git a/CHANGES.txt b/CHANGES.txt
index 5d0e193aae5..b98884449f1 100644
--- a/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/CHANGES.txt
@@ -42,6 +42,8 @@ Release 0.91.0 - Unreleased
    HBASE-3495  Shell is failing on subsequent split calls
    HBASE-3400  Coprocessor Support for Generic Interfaces
                (Ed Kohlwey via Gary Helmling)
+   HBASE-3502  Can't open region because can't open .regioninfo because
+               AlreadyBeingCreatedException
 
 
   IMPROVEMENTS
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/HRegion.java b/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/HRegion.java
index b720c6284fd..d64e19b8e55 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/HRegion.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/HRegion.java
@@ -424,16 +424,17 @@ public class HRegion implements HeapSize { // , Writable{
    * @throws IOException
    */
   private void checkRegioninfoOnFilesystem() throws IOException {
-    // Name of this file has two leading and trailing underscores so it doesn't
-    // clash w/ a store/family name.  There is possibility, but assumption is
-    // that its slim (don't want to use control character in filename because
-    //
-    Path regioninfo = new Path(this.regiondir, REGIONINFO_FILE);
-    if (this.fs.exists(regioninfo) &&
-        this.fs.getFileStatus(regioninfo).getLen() > 0) {
+    Path regioninfoPath = new Path(this.regiondir, REGIONINFO_FILE);
+    if (this.fs.exists(regioninfoPath) &&
+        this.fs.getFileStatus(regioninfoPath).getLen() > 0) {
       return;
     }
-    FSDataOutputStream out = this.fs.create(regioninfo, true);
+    // Create in tmpdir and then move into place in case we crash after
+    // create but before close.  If we don't successfully close the file,
+    // subsequent region reopens will fail the below because create is
+    // registered in NN.
+    Path tmpPath = new Path(getTmpDir(), REGIONINFO_FILE);
+    FSDataOutputStream out = this.fs.create(tmpPath, true);
     try {
       this.regionInfo.write(out);
       out.write('\n');
@@ -442,6 +443,10 @@ public class HRegion implements HeapSize { // , Writable{
     } finally {
       out.close();
     }
+    if (!fs.rename(tmpPath, regioninfoPath)) {
+      throw new IOException("Unable to rename " + tmpPath + " to " +
+        regioninfoPath);
+    }
   }
 
   /** @return a HRegionInfo object for this region */