diff --git a/sdk/cs/src/FoundryLocalManager.cs b/sdk/cs/src/FoundryLocalManager.cs
index 737c965..8e5b206 100644
--- a/sdk/cs/src/FoundryLocalManager.cs
+++ b/sdk/cs/src/FoundryLocalManager.cs
@@ -51,23 +51,15 @@ public partial class FoundryLocalManager : IDisposable, IAsyncDisposable
     // Sees if the service is already running
     public bool IsServiceRunning => _serviceUri != null;
 
-    public static async Task<FoundryLocalManager> StartModelAsync(string aliasOrModelId, DeviceType? device = null, CancellationToken ct = default)
+    public async Task<ModelInfo> StartModelAsync(string aliasOrModelId, DeviceType? device = null, CancellationToken ct = default)
     {
-        var manager = new FoundryLocalManager();
-        try
-        {
-            await manager.StartServiceAsync(ct);
-            var modelInfo = await manager.GetModelInfoAsync(aliasOrModelId, device, ct)
+        await StartServiceAsync(ct);
+        var modelInfo = await GetModelInfoAsync(aliasOrModelId, device, ct)
                 ?? throw new InvalidOperationException($"Model {aliasOrModelId} not found in catalog.");
-            await manager.DownloadModelAsync(modelInfo.ModelId,  device: device, token: null, force: false,ct: ct);
-            await manager.LoadModelAsync(aliasOrModelId, device: device, ct: ct);
-            return manager;
-        }
-        catch
-        {
-            manager.Dispose();
-            throw;
-        }
+        await DownloadModelAsync(modelInfo.ModelId,  device: device, token: null, force: false,ct: ct);
+        await LoadModelAsync(aliasOrModelId, device: device, ct: ct);
+        return modelInfo;
+
     }
 
     public async Task StartServiceAsync(CancellationToken ct = default)
diff --git a/sdk/cs/test/FoundryLocal.Tests/FoundryLocalManagerTest.cs b/sdk/cs/test/FoundryLocal.Tests/FoundryLocalManagerTest.cs
index f8f4003..29f5236 100644
--- a/sdk/cs/test/FoundryLocal.Tests/FoundryLocalManagerTest.cs
+++ b/sdk/cs/test/FoundryLocal.Tests/FoundryLocalManagerTest.cs
@@ -521,6 +521,69 @@ public async Task LoadModelAsync_Succeeds_AndPassesEpOverrideWhenCudaPresent()
         Assert.Equal("model-4-generic-gpu:1", result.ModelId);
     }
 
+    [Fact]
+    public async Task StartModelAsync_Succeeds_WhenModelIsInCatalogModelsCache()
+    {
+        // Arrange
+        var modelId = "model1";
+        var model = new ModelInfo
+        {
+            ModelId = modelId,
+            Alias = "alias1",
+            Uri = "http://model",
+            ProviderType = "huggingface",
+            Runtime = new Runtime { DeviceType = DeviceType.GPU }
+        };
+
+        _mockHttp.When("/openai/models").Respond("application/json", $"[\"{modelId}\"]");        
+        _mockHttp.When(HttpMethod.Get, $"/openai/load/{modelId}*").Respond("application/json", "{}");
+
+        typeof(FoundryLocalManager)
+            .GetField("_catalogModels", BindingFlags.NonPublic | BindingFlags.Instance)!
+            .SetValue(_manager, new List<ModelInfo> { model });        
+        
+        // Act
+        var result = await _manager.StartModelAsync(modelId);
+
+        // Assert
+        Assert.NotNull(result);
+        Assert.Equal(modelId, result.ModelId);
+    }
+
+    [Fact]
+    public async Task StartModelAsync_Succeeds_WhenModelIsDownloadedButNotInCatalogModelsCache()
+    {
+        // Arrange
+        var modelId = "model1";
+        var model = new ModelInfo
+        {
+            ModelId = modelId,
+            Alias = "alias1",
+            Uri = "http://model",
+            ProviderType = "huggingface",
+            Runtime = new Runtime { DeviceType = DeviceType.GPU }
+        };
+
+        var mockJsonResponse = "some log text... {\"success\": true, \"errorMessage\": null}";
+        _mockHttp.When("/openai/download").Respond("application/json", mockJsonResponse);
+        _mockHttp.When("/openai/models").Respond("application/json", $"[\"{modelId}\"]");
+        _mockHttp.When(HttpMethod.Get, $"/openai/load/{modelId}*").Respond("application/json", "{}");
+
+        var catalogJson = JsonSerializer.Serialize(new List<ModelInfo> { model });
+        _mockHttp.When(HttpMethod.Get, "/foundry/list").Respond("application/json", catalogJson);
+        
+        typeof(FoundryLocalManager)
+            .GetField("_catalogModels", BindingFlags.NonPublic | BindingFlags.Instance)!
+            .SetValue(_manager, null);        
+        
+        // Act
+        var result = await _manager.StartModelAsync(modelId);
+
+        // Assert
+        Assert.NotNull(result);
+        Assert.Equal(modelId, result.ModelId);
+    }
+
     [Fact]
     public async Task LoadModelAsync_ThrowsIfNotInCache()
     {