diff --git a/gate-web/src/main/groovy/com/netflix/spinnaker/gate/Main.groovy b/gate-web/src/main/groovy/com/netflix/spinnaker/gate/Main.groovy
index ca758b7f3d..eb563f6bc7 100644
--- a/gate-web/src/main/groovy/com/netflix/spinnaker/gate/Main.groovy
+++ b/gate-web/src/main/groovy/com/netflix/spinnaker/gate/Main.groovy
@@ -15,10 +15,8 @@
  */
 
 package com.netflix.spinnaker.gate
-
 import com.netflix.hystrix.contrib.metrics.eventstream.HystrixMetricsStreamServlet
 import com.netflix.spinnaker.hystrix.spectator.HystrixSpectatorConfig
-import org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication
 import org.springframework.boot.autoconfigure.EnableAutoConfiguration
 import org.springframework.boot.autoconfigure.groovy.template.GroovyTemplateAutoConfiguration
 import org.springframework.boot.autoconfigure.security.SecurityAutoConfiguration
@@ -48,23 +46,13 @@ class Main extends SpringBootServletInitializer {
           'spring.profiles.active': "${System.getProperty('netflix.environment', 'test')},local"
   ]
 
-  static {
-    applyDefaults()
-  }
-
-  static void applyDefaults() {
-    DEFAULT_PROPS.each { k, v ->
-      System.setProperty(k, System.getProperty(k, v))
-    }
-  }
-
   static void main(String... args) {
-    SpringApplication.run this, args
+    new SpringApplicationBuilder().properties(DEFAULT_PROPS).sources(Main).run(args)
   }
 
   @Override
   SpringApplicationBuilder configure(SpringApplicationBuilder builder) {
-    builder.sources(Main)
+    builder.properties(DEFAULT_PROPS).sources(Main)
   }
 
   @Bean