diff --git a/src/ape/managers/project.py b/src/ape/managers/project.py
index 4c1a82685e..25e867c582 100644
--- a/src/ape/managers/project.py
+++ b/src/ape/managers/project.py
@@ -2276,16 +2276,6 @@ def in_tempdir(self) -> bool:
 
         return in_tempdir(self.path)
 
-    @property
-    def manifest(self) -> PackageManifest:
-        # Reloads to handle changes from other ongoing sessions.
-        # If don't need a reload, use `._manifest` instead.
-        if self.manifest_path.is_file():
-            reloaded = PackageManifest.model_validate_json(self.manifest_path.read_text())
-            self._manifest = reloaded
-
-        return self._manifest
-
     @property
     def meta(self) -> PackageMeta:
         """
@@ -2375,11 +2365,14 @@ def load_manifest(self) -> PackageManifest:
             return PackageManifest()
 
         try:
-            return _load_manifest(self.manifest_path)
+            manifest = _load_manifest(self.manifest_path)
         except Exception as err:
             logger.error(f"__local__.json manifest corrupted! Re-building.\nFull error: {err}.")
             self.manifest_path.unlink(missing_ok=True)
-            return PackageManifest()
+            manifest = PackageManifest()
+
+        self._manifest = manifest
+        return manifest
 
     def get_contract(self, name: str) -> Any:
         if name in dir(self):
diff --git a/tests/functional/test_project.py b/tests/functional/test_project.py
index bc531aebe2..ed057a2d8b 100644
--- a/tests/functional/test_project.py
+++ b/tests/functional/test_project.py
@@ -540,6 +540,17 @@ def test_get_contract(project_with_contracts):
     assert isinstance(actual, ContractContainer)
     assert actual.contract_type.name == "Other"
 
+    # Ensure manifest is only loaded once by none-ing out the path.
+    # Otherwise, this can be a MAJOR performance hit.
+    manifest_path = project_with_contracts.manifest_path
+    project_with_contracts.manifest_path = None
+    try:
+        actual = project_with_contracts.get_contract("Other")
+        assert isinstance(actual, ContractContainer)
+        assert actual.contract_type.name == "Other"
+    finally:
+        project_with_contracts.manifest_path = manifest_path
+
 
 def test_get_contract_not_exists(project):
     actual = project.get_contract("this is not a contract")
diff --git a/tests/integration/cli/test_compile.py b/tests/integration/cli/test_compile.py
index 55897c8572..0020b074fa 100644
--- a/tests/integration/cli/test_compile.py
+++ b/tests/integration/cli/test_compile.py
@@ -43,6 +43,11 @@ def test_compile(ape_cli, runner, integ_project, clean_cache):
     cmd = ("compile", "--project", f"{integ_project.path}")
     result = runner.invoke(ape_cli, cmd, catch_exceptions=False)
     assert result.exit_code == 0, result.output
+
+    # We have to load the manifest again because normally we are not referencing
+    # the manifest in the same process as `ape compile`.
+    integ_project.load_manifest()
+
     assert integ_project.manifest.contract_types
 
     # First time it compiles, it compiles the files with registered compilers successfully.