diff --git a/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/multisite/validation/ProjectVersionRefUpdateImpl.java b/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/multisite/validation/ProjectVersionRefUpdateImpl.java
index d9b9196..632ac02 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/multisite/validation/ProjectVersionRefUpdateImpl.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/multisite/validation/ProjectVersionRefUpdateImpl.java
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@
 
 import com.gerritforge.gerrit.globalrefdb.GlobalRefDbSystemError;
 import com.gerritforge.gerrit.globalrefdb.validation.SharedRefDatabaseWrapper;
+import com.google.common.base.Predicates;
 import com.google.common.collect.ImmutableSet;
 import com.google.common.flogger.FluentLogger;
 import com.google.gerrit.entities.Project;
@@ -30,17 +31,18 @@
 import com.google.gerrit.server.events.RefUpdatedEvent;
 import com.google.gerrit.server.extensions.events.GitReferenceUpdated;
 import com.google.gerrit.server.git.GitRepositoryManager;
-import com.google.gerrit.server.notedb.IntBlob;
 import com.google.gerrit.server.update.context.RefUpdateContext;
 import com.google.inject.Inject;
 import com.googlesource.gerrit.plugins.multisite.ProjectVersionLogger;
 import java.io.IOException;
+import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets;
 import java.util.Optional;
 import java.util.Set;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.errors.RepositoryNotFoundException;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.lib.ObjectId;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.lib.ObjectIdRef;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.lib.ObjectInserter;
+import org.eclipse.jgit.lib.ObjectLoader;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.lib.Ref;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.lib.RefUpdate;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.lib.Repository;
@@ -218,9 +220,9 @@
   public Optional<Long> getProjectLocalVersion(String projectName) {
     try (Repository repository =
         gitRepositoryManager.openRepository(Project.NameKey.parse(projectName))) {
-      Optional<IntBlob> blob = IntBlob.parse(repository, MULTI_SITE_VERSIONING_REF);
+      Optional<Long> blob = longBlobParse(repository, MULTI_SITE_VERSIONING_REF);
       if (blob.isPresent()) {
-        Long repoVersion = Integer.toUnsignedLong(blob.get().value());
+        Long repoVersion = blob.get();
         logger.atFine().log("Local project '%s' has version %d", projectName, repoVersion);
         return Optional.of(repoVersion);
       }
@@ -232,6 +234,24 @@
     return Optional.empty();
   }
 
+  private Optional<Long> longBlobParse(Repository repo, String ref) throws IOException {
+    return Optional.ofNullable(repo.exactRef(ref))
+        .map(
+            (r) -> {
+              ObjectLoader loader;
+              try {
+                loader = repo.open(r.getObjectId());
+                String boutString = new String(loader.getBytes(), StandardCharsets.UTF_8);
+                return Long.parseLong(boutString);
+              } catch (IOException e) {
+                logger.atSevere().withCause(e).log(
+                    "Unable to extract long BLOB from %s:%s", repo.getDirectory(), ref);
+                return null;
+              }
+            })
+        .filter(Predicates.notNull());
+  }
+
   /* (non-Javadoc)
    * @see com.googlesource.gerrit.plugins.multisite.validation.ProjectVersionRefUpdate#getProjectRemoteVersion(java.lang.String)
    */
diff --git a/src/test/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/multisite/validation/ProjectVersionRefUpdateTest.java b/src/test/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/multisite/validation/ProjectVersionRefUpdateTest.java
index 92015ce..a997f9f 100644
--- a/src/test/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/multisite/validation/ProjectVersionRefUpdateTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/multisite/validation/ProjectVersionRefUpdateTest.java
@@ -143,9 +143,10 @@
     when(refUpdatedEvent.getProjectNameKey()).thenReturn(A_TEST_PROJECT_NAME_KEY);
     when(refUpdatedEvent.getRefName()).thenReturn(A_TEST_REF_NAME);
 
-    new ProjectVersionRefUpdateImpl(
-            repoManager, sharedRefDb, gitReferenceUpdated, verLogger, DEFAULT_INSTANCE_ID)
-        .onEvent(refUpdatedEvent);
+    ProjectVersionRefUpdateImpl projectVersion =
+        new ProjectVersionRefUpdateImpl(
+            repoManager, sharedRefDb, gitReferenceUpdated, verLogger, DEFAULT_INSTANCE_ID);
+    projectVersion.onEvent(refUpdatedEvent);
 
     Ref ref = repo.getRepository().findRef(MULTI_SITE_VERSIONING_REF);
 
@@ -156,6 +157,10 @@
 
     ObjectLoader loader = repo.getRepository().open(ref.getObjectId());
     long storedVersion = readLongObject(loader);
+
+    Optional<Long> localStoredVersion = projectVersion.getProjectLocalVersion(A_TEST_PROJECT_NAME);
+    assertThat(localStoredVersion).isEqualTo(Optional.of(storedVersion));
+
     assertThat(storedVersion).isGreaterThan((long) masterPlusOneCommit.getCommitTime());
 
     verify(verLogger).log(A_TEST_PROJECT_NAME_KEY, storedVersion, 0);