The sale price of the hotels totaled more than $22 million. Breakwater, located at 940 Ocean Dr. consists of 64 units in four stories. The seller was JAMM 18 Inc. Built in 1939, the hotel sold for $3.6 million, or $55,468 per unit, in June 1993, according to the Miami-Dade County property appraiser's office. The seller of the Edison, at 960 Ocean Dr., was Hotel Edison Ltd. The five-story hotel was built in 1935. It sold for $4.1 million, or $82,653 per unit, in September 1996, according to the property appraiser's office.

In January 2004, a nearby hotel, the 45-unit Tides hotel on South Beach, sold for $269,555 per unit. In August, the Falor Cos. signed a definitive agreement to buy that hotel, built in 1936, as well for an undisclosed amount. That deal is expected to close by Oct. 21.

While the hotels are nearby, David Gray, a hotel consultant with Cushman & Wakefield in South Florida, says South Beach hotels don't necessarily have similar per-unit rates. For example, a restaurant component can distort that figure and jack up the value. "A lot of those properties, particularly the ones on Ocean Drive, the food and beverage component is more than half" the value, he says.