Cedar Views Apartments- Our Story

Nestled in the ARZ region, overlooking the town of Bsharri, north Lebanon, and with premier views of the UNESCO world heritage protected Cedars of God Forest, is the is the realisation of the dream of Chafic and Salma Saade.

Chafic, a young 21 year old, one of nine children to Rachid and Salwa Saade, like many Lebanese people from the region, immigrated to Australia in the 70s. Chafic joined his elder siblings and settled in Sydney. He worked multiple jobs to support himself and save some money to return to Lebanon. After a few years he returned to his homeland and met his wife Salma, at that stage one of seven children to Salim and Dibeh Saade. They fell in love and got married. They decided to return to Australia and make a future for themselves and their family. Whilst Salma was in Australia, her parents gave birth to their 8th child, which Salma only met after returning to Lebanon 16 years after she departed with Chafic after they got married.

Chafic and Salma Saade

Chafic and Salma worked hard and at that time, the civil war in Lebanon broke out and they were unable to return home, so they decided Australia would be their home with one day the dream of returning to their homeland Lebanon. They had 4 children, Salwa, Saade, Charbel and George. Australia was now their home for them and their family.

The opportunity arose some time later to purchase a prime piece of real estate in the Arz, overlooking the famous Cedars of God forest. Chafic and Salma purchased the property and the dream began, to one day have their own piece of their home country. Chafic and Salma, like many of their fellow countrymen, took advantage of the “luck country”, Australia, and saved some money to develop the property. They chose to build a boutique style apartment building that would take advantage of the uninterrupted and unrivalled views of the Cedars of God forest.

In about 2008, Chafic and Salma began working on the plans to build the apartments. They enlisted Chafic’s youngest brother, George, to construct the building. Due to the amount of snow that came in winter, the work on the apartments could only take place when enough of the snow had melted so the workers could access the property. The construction finally was completed in 2018.

George Saade on the left, during the construction phase

Chafic and Salma thought about what to name the apartments, and the choice was easy, due to the premier and unrivalled views of the Cedars, the name “Cedar View Apartments” was chosen. Their dream to have a piece of their country, a symbol of success in Australia, a foreign land, had been completed.

The completed Cedar View Apartments

View from the Cedar View Apartments

Chafic and Salma, who’s four children have added to the family 12 grandchildren, want to share their success, pride and joy, and promote their special piece of their ancestral homeland. The Cedar View Apartments, the premier and luxury choice for a stay in the Cedars, is available so that you too can enjoy the region and what it has to offer.

Keep an eye out for Chafic and Salma, as they still enjoy visiting Lebanon on a regular basis and reside in the apartments during their holidays. Whilst their life is in Australia, a piece of their heart is in Lebanon.