diff --git a/include/grpc++/server.h b/include/grpc++/server.h
index d0a357aeacc..fb04b88148e 100644
--- a/include/grpc++/server.h
+++ b/include/grpc++/server.h
@@ -212,7 +212,7 @@ class Server GRPC_FINAL : public ServerInterface, private GrpcLibraryCodegen {
   std::vector<grpc::string> services_;
   bool has_generic_service_;
 
-  // Pointer to the c core's grpc server.
+  // Pointer to the wrapped grpc_server.
   grpc_server* server_;
 
   std::unique_ptr<ServerInitializer> server_initializer_;
diff --git a/include/grpc++/server_builder.h b/include/grpc++/server_builder.h
index 607df74318f..c6bcf8b90a1 100644
--- a/include/grpc++/server_builder.h
+++ b/include/grpc++/server_builder.h
@@ -217,7 +217,7 @@ class ServerBuilder {
 
   SyncServerSettings sync_server_settings_;
 
-  /* List of completion queues added via AddCompletionQueue() method */
+  // List of completion queues added via AddCompletionQueue() method
   std::vector<ServerCompletionQueue*> cqs_;
 
   std::shared_ptr<ServerCredentials> creds_;
diff --git a/src/cpp/server/server_builder.cc b/src/cpp/server/server_builder.cc
index f4e7733312d..9bf3221e6ac 100644
--- a/src/cpp/server/server_builder.cc
+++ b/src/cpp/server/server_builder.cc
@@ -116,7 +116,6 @@ ServerBuilder& ServerBuilder::SetSyncServerOption(
     case NUM_CQS:
       sync_server_settings_.num_cqs = val;
       break;
-
     case MIN_POLLERS:
       sync_server_settings_.min_pollers = val;
       break;
@@ -217,8 +216,8 @@ std::unique_ptr<Server> ServerBuilder::BuildAndStart() {
   // ServerBuilder's AddCompletionQueue() method (those completion queues
   // are in 'cqs_' member variable of ServerBuilder object)
   std::shared_ptr<std::vector<std::unique_ptr<ServerCompletionQueue>>>
-      sync_server_cqs(
-          new std::vector<std::unique_ptr<ServerCompletionQueue>>());
+      sync_server_cqs = std::make_shared<
+          std::vector<std::unique_ptr<ServerCompletionQueue>>>();
 
   if (has_sync_methods) {
     // This is a Sync server
diff --git a/src/cpp/server/server_cc.cc b/src/cpp/server/server_cc.cc
index da7de130886..809e74c95fe 100644
--- a/src/cpp/server/server_cc.cc
+++ b/src/cpp/server/server_cc.cc
@@ -312,10 +312,7 @@ class Server::SyncRequestThreadManager : public ThreadManager {
     if (!sync_methods_.empty()) {
       unknown_method_.reset(new RpcServiceMethod(
           "unknown", RpcMethod::BIDI_STREAMING, new UnknownMethodHandler));
-      // Use of emplace_back with just constructor arguments is not accepted
-      // here by gcc-4.4 because it can't match the anonymous nullptr with a
-      // proper constructor implicitly. Construct the object and use push_back.
-      sync_methods_.push_back(SyncRequest(unknown_method_.get(), nullptr));
+      sync_methods_.emplace_back(unknown_method_.get(), nullptr);
     }
   }
 
diff --git a/src/cpp/thread_manager/thread_manager.cc b/src/cpp/thread_manager/thread_manager.cc
index e2b32512f19..c4bf842fbb4 100644
--- a/src/cpp/thread_manager/thread_manager.cc
+++ b/src/cpp/thread_manager/thread_manager.cc
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ namespace grpc {
 
 ThreadManager::WorkerThread::WorkerThread(ThreadManager* thd_mgr)
     : thd_mgr_(thd_mgr),
-      thd_(new std::thread(&ThreadManager::WorkerThread::Run, this)) {}
+      thd_(&ThreadManager::WorkerThread::Run, this) {}
 
 void ThreadManager::WorkerThread::Run() {
   thd_mgr_->MainWorkLoop();
@@ -50,8 +50,7 @@ void ThreadManager::WorkerThread::Run() {
 }
 
 ThreadManager::WorkerThread::~WorkerThread() {
-  thd_->join();
-  thd_.reset();
+  thd_.join();
 }
 
 ThreadManager::ThreadManager(int min_pollers, int max_pollers)
diff --git a/src/cpp/thread_manager/thread_manager.h b/src/cpp/thread_manager/thread_manager.h
index b667a645afb..1bb13a67dd9 100644
--- a/src/cpp/thread_manager/thread_manager.h
+++ b/src/cpp/thread_manager/thread_manager.h
@@ -114,7 +114,7 @@ class ThreadManager {
     void Run();
 
     ThreadManager* thd_mgr_;
-    std::unique_ptr<grpc::thread> thd_;
+    grpc::thread thd_;
   };
 
   // The main funtion in ThreadManager
diff --git a/test/cpp/thread_manager/thread_manager_test.cc b/test/cpp/thread_manager/thread_manager_test.cc
index 990e2bab3f7..9265c2921ad 100644
--- a/test/cpp/thread_manager/thread_manager_test.cc
+++ b/test/cpp/thread_manager/thread_manager_test.cc
@@ -85,8 +85,10 @@ void ThreadManagerTest::DoWork(void *tag, bool ok) {
     gpr_log(GPR_DEBUG, "DoWork()");
   }
 
-  // Simulate "doing work" by sleeping
-  std::this_thread::sleep_for(std::chrono::milliseconds(kDoWorkDurationMsec));
+  gpr_timespec sleep_time =
+      gpr_time_add(gpr_now(GPR_CLOCK_REALTIME),
+                   gpr_time_from_millis(kDoWorkDurationMsec, GPR_TIMESPAN));
+  gpr_sleep_until(sleep_time);
 }
 
 int main(int argc, char **argv) {