diff --git a/fe/src/main/java/org/apache/impala/service/KuduCatalogOpExecutor.java b/fe/src/main/java/org/apache/impala/service/KuduCatalogOpExecutor.java
index 8c978b490..0f8f8fde1 100644
--- a/fe/src/main/java/org/apache/impala/service/KuduCatalogOpExecutor.java
+++ b/fe/src/main/java/org/apache/impala/service/KuduCatalogOpExecutor.java
@@ -288,11 +288,15 @@ public class KuduCatalogOpExecutor {
     Preconditions.checkState(!Strings.isNullOrEmpty(newName));
     AlterTableOptions alterTableOptions = new AlterTableOptions();
     alterTableOptions.renameTable(newName);
+    String errMsg = String.format("Error renaming Kudu table " +
+        "%s to %s", tbl.getKuduTableName(), newName);
     try (KuduClient client = KuduUtil.createKuduClient(tbl.getKuduMasterHosts())) {
       client.alterTable(tbl.getKuduTableName(), alterTableOptions);
+      if (!client.isAlterTableDone(newName)) {
+        throw new ImpalaRuntimeException(errMsg + ": Kudu operation timed out");
+      }
     } catch (KuduException e) {
-      throw new ImpalaRuntimeException(String.format("Error renaming Kudu table " +
-      "%s to %s", tbl.getName(), newName), e);
+      throw new ImpalaRuntimeException(errMsg, e);
     }
   }
 
@@ -316,15 +320,13 @@ public class KuduCatalogOpExecutor {
       alterTableOptions.dropRangePartition(lowerBound.first, upperBound.first,
           lowerBound.second, upperBound.second);
     }
-    try (KuduClient client = KuduUtil.createKuduClient(tbl.getKuduMasterHosts())) {
-      client.alterTable(tbl.getKuduTableName(), alterTableOptions);
-    } catch (KuduException e) {
-      if (!params.isIgnore_errors()) {
-        throw new ImpalaRuntimeException(String.format("Error %s range partition in " +
-            "table %s",
-            (type == TRangePartitionOperationType.ADD ? "adding" : "dropping"),
-            tbl.getName()), e);
-      }
+    String errMsg = String.format("Error %s range partition in " +
+        "table %s", (type == TRangePartitionOperationType.ADD ? "adding" : "dropping"),
+        tbl.getName());
+    try {
+      alterKuduTable(tbl, alterTableOptions, errMsg);
+    } catch (ImpalaRuntimeException e) {
+      if (!params.isIgnore_errors()) throw e;
     }
   }
 
@@ -394,12 +396,8 @@ public class KuduCatalogOpExecutor {
         }
       }
     }
-    try (KuduClient client = KuduUtil.createKuduClient(tbl.getKuduMasterHosts())) {
-      client.alterTable(tbl.getKuduTableName(), alterTableOptions);
-    } catch (KuduException e) {
-      throw new ImpalaRuntimeException("Error adding columns to Kudu table " +
-          tbl.getKuduTableName(), e);
-    }
+    String errMsg = "Error adding columns to Kudu table " + tbl.getName();
+    alterKuduTable(tbl, alterTableOptions, errMsg);
   }
 
   /**
@@ -410,12 +408,9 @@ public class KuduCatalogOpExecutor {
     Preconditions.checkState(!Strings.isNullOrEmpty(colName));
     AlterTableOptions alterTableOptions = new AlterTableOptions();
     alterTableOptions.dropColumn(colName);
-    try (KuduClient client = KuduUtil.createKuduClient(tbl.getKuduMasterHosts())) {
-      client.alterTable(tbl.getKuduTableName(), alterTableOptions);
-    } catch (KuduException e) {
-      throw new ImpalaRuntimeException(String.format("Error dropping column %s from " +
-          "Kudu table %s", colName, tbl.getName()), e);
-    }
+    String errMsg = String.format("Error dropping column %s from " +
+        "Kudu table %s", colName, tbl.getName());
+    alterKuduTable(tbl, alterTableOptions, errMsg);
   }
 
   /**
@@ -427,11 +422,25 @@ public class KuduCatalogOpExecutor {
     Preconditions.checkNotNull(newCol);
     AlterTableOptions alterTableOptions = new AlterTableOptions();
     alterTableOptions.renameColumn(oldName, newCol.getColumnName());
+    String errMsg = String.format("Error renaming column %s to %s " +
+        "for Kudu table %s", oldName, newCol.getColumnName(), tbl.getName());
+    alterKuduTable(tbl, alterTableOptions, errMsg);
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Alters a Kudu table based on the specified AlterTableOptions params. Blocks until
+   * the alter table operation is finished or until the operation timeout is reached.
+   * Throws an ImpalaRuntimeException if the operation cannot be completed successfully.
+   */
+  public static void alterKuduTable(KuduTable tbl, AlterTableOptions ato, String errMsg)
+      throws ImpalaRuntimeException {
     try (KuduClient client = KuduUtil.createKuduClient(tbl.getKuduMasterHosts())) {
-      client.alterTable(tbl.getKuduTableName(), alterTableOptions);
+      client.alterTable(tbl.getKuduTableName(), ato);
+      if (!client.isAlterTableDone(tbl.getKuduTableName())) {
+        throw new ImpalaRuntimeException(errMsg + ": Kudu operation timed out");
+      }
     } catch (KuduException e) {
-      throw new ImpalaRuntimeException(String.format("Error renaming column %s to %s " +
-          "for Kudu table %s", oldName, newCol.getColumnName(), tbl.getName()), e);
+      throw new ImpalaRuntimeException(errMsg, e);
     }
   }
 }
diff --git a/testdata/workloads/functional-query/queries/QueryTest/kudu_alter.test b/testdata/workloads/functional-query/queries/QueryTest/kudu_alter.test
index 505e9fefd..116a7e943 100644
--- a/testdata/workloads/functional-query/queries/QueryTest/kudu_alter.test
+++ b/testdata/workloads/functional-query/queries/QueryTest/kudu_alter.test
@@ -50,7 +50,6 @@ BIGINT
 # Create a table with range distribution
 create table tbl_to_alter (id int primary key, name string null, vali bigint not null)
   distribute by range (id) (partition 1 < values <= 10) stored as kudu
-  tblproperties('kudu.table_name'='tbl_to_alter')
 ---- RESULTS
 ====
 ---- QUERY
@@ -296,7 +295,7 @@ alter table tbl_to_alter set tblproperties('kudu.table_name'='kudu_tbl_to_alter'
 ---- QUERY
 # Create a new table and try to rename to an existing kudu table
 create table copy_of_tbl (a int primary key) distribute by hash (a) into 3 buckets
-  stored as kudu;
+  stored as kudu tblproperties('kudu.table_name'='copy_of_tbl');
 alter table copy_of_tbl set tblproperties('kudu.table_name'='kudu_tbl_to_alter')
 ---- CATCH
 ImpalaRuntimeException: Error renaming Kudu table copy_of_tbl to kudu_tbl_to_alter