Seattle to Hold Open House for South Lake Union Neighborhood Projects.

Byline: Bill Kossen

Dec. 4--For nearly 100 years, grand plans to remake Seattle's South Lake Union neighborhood have come and gone, leaving little in their wake but a hodgepodge of businesses, homes and increasingly congested streets.

Today, the growing presence of new money in the old neighborhood is giving community leaders hope.

Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen's investment company, Vulcan, recently purchased eight parcels of land from the city for $20.2 million. Much of that money was earmarked for transportation improvements, including doing something about the infamous "Mercer Mess," the heavily used traffic corridor between Interstate 5 and Seattle Center.

"It's an extremely exciting time, a confluence of events that we may not see again in our …