diff --git a/winml/adapter/WinMLAdapter.cpp b/winml/adapter/WinMLAdapter.cpp
index 46f8c4c84b..53515e11a7 100644
--- a/winml/adapter/WinMLAdapter.cpp
+++ b/winml/adapter/WinMLAdapter.cpp
@@ -262,12 +262,15 @@ class WinMLAdapter : public Microsoft::WRL::RuntimeClass<
                          Microsoft::WRL::RuntimeClassFlags<Microsoft::WRL::ClassicCom>,
                          IWinMLAdapter> {
  private:
-  std::shared_ptr<WinML::LotusEnvironment> lotus_environment_;
+  // TODO: Making this static is only temporary. A fix addressing the resulting the memory leaks is needed.
+  static std::shared_ptr<WinML::LotusEnvironment> lotus_environment_;
 
  public:
-  WinMLAdapter() : lotus_environment_(PheonixSingleton<WinML::LotusEnvironment>()) {
+  WinMLAdapter() {
+    if (lotus_environment_ == nullptr) {
+      lotus_environment_ = PheonixSingleton<WinML::LotusEnvironment>();
+    }
   }
-
   // factory methods for creating an ort model from a path
   HRESULT STDMETHODCALLTYPE CreateModelProto(
       const char* path,
@@ -644,6 +647,7 @@ class WinMLAdapter : public Microsoft::WRL::RuntimeClass<
   }
   WINML_CATCH_ALL_COM
 };  // namespace Windows::AI::MachineLearning::Adapter
+std::shared_ptr<WinML::LotusEnvironment> WinMLAdapter::lotus_environment_ = nullptr;
 
 extern "C" HRESULT STDMETHODCALLTYPE OrtGetWinMLAdapter(IWinMLAdapter** adapter) try {
   // make an adapter instance