diff --git a/solr/core/src/java/org/apache/solr/cloud/Overseer.java b/solr/core/src/java/org/apache/solr/cloud/Overseer.java
index 0163af9e2e7..37278e9dd84 100644
--- a/solr/core/src/java/org/apache/solr/cloud/Overseer.java
+++ b/solr/core/src/java/org/apache/solr/cloud/Overseer.java
@@ -166,17 +166,12 @@ public class Overseer {
       } else if (DELETECORE.equals(operation)) {
         clusterState = removeCore(clusterState, message);
       } else if (ZkStateReader.LEADER_PROP.equals(operation)) {
-        StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
         String baseUrl = message.get(ZkStateReader.BASE_URL_PROP);
         String coreName = message.get(ZkStateReader.CORE_NAME_PROP);
-        sb.append(baseUrl);
-        if (!baseUrl.endsWith("/")) sb.append("/");
-        sb.append(coreName == null ? "" : coreName);
-        if (!(sb.substring(sb.length() - 1).equals("/"))) sb
-            .append("/");
+        final String leaderUrl = ZkCoreNodeProps.getCoreUrl(baseUrl, coreName);
         clusterState = setShardLeader(clusterState,
             message.get(ZkStateReader.COLLECTION_PROP),
-            message.get(ZkStateReader.SHARD_ID_PROP), sb.toString());
+            message.get(ZkStateReader.SHARD_ID_PROP), leaderUrl);
       } else {
         throw new RuntimeException("unknown operation:" + operation
             + " contents:" + message.getProperties());
diff --git a/solr/solrj/src/java/org/apache/solr/common/cloud/ZkCoreNodeProps.java b/solr/solrj/src/java/org/apache/solr/common/cloud/ZkCoreNodeProps.java
index ee6b9301bce..facb216bcfb 100644
--- a/solr/solrj/src/java/org/apache/solr/common/cloud/ZkCoreNodeProps.java
+++ b/solr/solrj/src/java/org/apache/solr/common/cloud/ZkCoreNodeProps.java
@@ -24,7 +24,6 @@ public class ZkCoreNodeProps {
     this.nodeProps = nodeProps;
   }
   
-  // may return null
   public String getCoreUrl() {
     return getCoreUrl(nodeProps.get(ZkStateReader.BASE_URL_PROP), nodeProps.get(ZkStateReader.CORE_NAME_PROP));
   }
@@ -51,13 +50,10 @@ public class ZkCoreNodeProps {
   
   public static String getCoreUrl(String baseUrl, String coreName) {
     StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
-    if (baseUrl == null) return null;
-    if (coreName == null) return null;
     sb.append(baseUrl);
     if (!baseUrl.endsWith("/")) sb.append("/");
-    sb.append(coreName == null ? "" : coreName);
+    sb.append(coreName);
     if (!(sb.substring(sb.length() - 1).equals("/"))) sb.append("/");
-    
     return sb.toString();
   }