Wollongong's Chifley Hotel will be rebranded as Australia's second Sage Hotel, with the hotel's proprietors lodging plans to install new signs on the Harbour Street building.
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The revamp of the five-year-old, four-star hotel is being rolled out by Singapore-based SilverNeedle Hospitality, which has managed the hotel since 2011.
In June, Adelaide's Grand Chifley Hotel became the first Sage Hotel, while a new property bearing the moniker is due to open in Perth in March 2016.
SilverNeedle's director of marketing and communication, Georgina Williams, said the new brand indicated the company was "serious about Wollongong".
"Our business plans have always been entrenched with advocating local partnerships, with more to be ramped up as Sage Hotels is launched as a brand with a purpose."
She said the beachside location was suited to "business travellers, leisure guests, sporting fans and families".
The hotel restaurant will also get a new name under the re-brand, with the existing C Grill restaurant to be known as Coldwater Creek, according to signage plans on exhibition through Wollongong City Council's website.
The Chifley has been operating in Wollongong since September 2010, when it opened after years of construction delays.
The 168-room development at 60 Harbour Street was first approved in 2005. Construction began a few years later but then came to an abrupt halt when its developer, the Jempac group of companies, folded with debts of $191 million.
The partially completed building was purchased by Harbour Street Developments in 2009, with construction restarting in November that year.
In early 2010 it was revealed that the Chifley chain - part of the then Constellation Hotels Group which also operates Country Comfort, Australis and Sundowner hotels and resorts - would operate the hotel.
Singapore-based SilverNeedle Hospitality bought the Constellation Hotels Group in 2011 and has been rolling out changes to a number of its properties in the years since.
The Wollongong hotel was put on the market a year ago and sold late last year, with property records showing it was bought by Perth-based Glenmarie Capital Pty Ltd for $22.1 million on October 23.
SilverNeedle now has more than 50 properties in the Asia-Pacific region including the new Sage and Next Hotels brands.
The Sage Hotel Wollongong will open on July 15.
