Addition to the previous post:
As usual, after the upgrade I put back the BASServer.props file from the previous install (in my case V8.8 ). I compared that file to the default file that was included with the V9 install and found two changes. I then changed these lines in the BASServer.props file. See below old line and new line.
The issue with the NullPointerException seems to be resolved. Not sure whether there is any relationship.
# OLD LINE: DirectoryServiceProvider=tcp\://dep\:61616
DirectoryServiceProvider=tcp://localhost:61616
# OLD LINE: JMS_BROKER_CONNECTOR=tcp\://dep\:61616
JMS_BROKER_CONNECTOR=tcp://localhost:61616