DENVER (CBS4) – This weekend a major transformation in a Denver neighborhood is one step closer to completion.

Feuding gang members burned down the Holly Square Shopping Center in 2008. On Saturday the community hosted a three-on-three basketball tournament. It’s the first step in rebuilding the area.

The renovation will eventually include a playground, picnic tables and a new community center. Last week volunteers cleaned up the area to build the basketball court.

The Piton Foundation contributed most of the money for the improvements. Help also came from the Denver Foundation and others.

“It brings pride, it brings hope, and it just brings us a good time,” Terrance Robert with the Prodigal Son Initiative said. “There’s nothing wrong with just getting people together and showing that we are a community, that we all get along, and just having a fun time with the kids and doing something healthy.”

Construction on the community center is set to begin next month.