diff --git a/src/Microsoft.AspNet.Hosting/HostingUtilities.cs b/src/Microsoft.AspNet.Hosting/HostingUtilities.cs
index 873fd87f..4baf19fd 100644
--- a/src/Microsoft.AspNet.Hosting/HostingUtilities.cs
+++ b/src/Microsoft.AspNet.Hosting/HostingUtilities.cs
@@ -17,7 +17,8 @@
 
 using System;
 using System.IO;
-using Microsoft.Framework.ConfigurationModel;
+using Newtonsoft.Json;
+using Newtonsoft.Json.Linq;
 
 namespace Microsoft.AspNet.Hosting
 {
@@ -38,17 +39,25 @@ internal static Tuple<string, string> SplitTypeName(string identifier)
 
         public static string GetWebRoot(string applicationBasePath)
         {
+            var webroot = applicationBasePath;
             try
             {
-                var config = new Configuration();
-                config.AddJsonFile(Path.Combine(applicationBasePath, "project.json"));
-                var webroot = config.Get("webroot") ?? string.Empty;
-                return Path.GetFullPath(Path.Combine(applicationBasePath, webroot));
+                using (var stream = new FileStream(Path.Combine(applicationBasePath, "project.json"), FileMode.Open, FileAccess.Read))
+                {
+                    using (var reader = new JsonTextReader(new StreamReader(stream)))
+                    {
+                        var project = JObject.Load(reader);
+                        if (project.TryGetValue("webroot", out var token))
+                        {
+                            webroot = Path.Combine(applicationBasePath, token.ToString());
+                        }
+                    }
+                }
             }
             catch (Exception)
             {
-                return applicationBasePath;
             }
+            return Path.GetFullPath(webroot);
         }
     }
 }
diff --git a/src/Microsoft.AspNet.Hosting/project.json b/src/Microsoft.AspNet.Hosting/project.json
index de0e1d53..bcf21cbd 100644
--- a/src/Microsoft.AspNet.Hosting/project.json
+++ b/src/Microsoft.AspNet.Hosting/project.json
@@ -6,10 +6,10 @@
     "Microsoft.AspNet.PipelineCore": "1.0.0-*",
     "Microsoft.AspNet.Security.DataProtection": "1.0.0-*",
     "Microsoft.Framework.ConfigurationModel": "1.0.0-*",
-    "Microsoft.Framework.ConfigurationModel.Json": "1.0.0-*",
     "Microsoft.Framework.DependencyInjection": "1.0.0-*",
     "Microsoft.Framework.Logging": "1.0.0-*",
-    "Microsoft.Framework.Runtime.Interfaces":  "1.0.0-*"
+    "Microsoft.Framework.Runtime.Interfaces": "1.0.0-*",
+    "Newtonsoft.Json": "6.0.4"
   },
   "frameworks": {
     "aspnet50": {},