diff --git a/src/runtime/arena.c b/src/runtime/arena.c
index 0a138512d8..4cf3a69cbb 100644
--- a/src/runtime/arena.c
+++ b/src/runtime/arena.c
@@ -368,7 +368,7 @@ lispobj* handle_arena_alloc(struct thread* th, struct alloc_region* region,
     if (avail < min_keep && nbytes <= 65536) { // case 1
         struct arena* in_use_arena = (void*)native_pointer(th->arena);
         __sync_fetch_and_add(&in_use_arena->uw_bytes_wasted, avail);
-        long total_request = nbytes + 8192;
+        long total_request = nbytes + 8192*1024;
         region->start_addr = claim_new_subrange((void*)native_pointer(th->arena),
                                                 total_request, filler);
         region->end_addr = (char*)region->start_addr + total_request;