The  Foundation for Sustainable Urban Communities was founded in 1990 by beloved Denver oilman/philanthropist Sam Gary. (The original name of Stapleton Foundation was dropped in 2018.) Its mission was to write the redevelopment plan for Stapleton, the city’s former airport that closed in 1995 when Denver International Airport opened. At 4,700 acres, it is the largest infill development in the country. 

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The Foundation is the catalyst, with the community and the master developer, to advance the Green Book’s agenda. Development work began in 2000 to convert Stapleton into what is now called Central Park and is home to nearly 30,000 residents. The city of Denver, with the Foundation, chose Cleveland-based Forest City Enterprises (now Forest City Realty Trust, Inc) as the master developer for the project. Brookfield Asset Management bought Forest City in 2018 for $11.4 billion and is now Central Park's master developer.

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The plan, known as the Green Book, called for a New Urbanism project of mixed use residential, commercial, retail, office and open space. Along with the physical transformation, the plan promotes a social agenda. The plan’s key principles are environmental responsibility, social equity and economic opportunity. These principles guide The Foundation to drive its primary initiatives of Healthy Living, Lifelong Learning and Sustainable Transportation. The Foundation also promotes affordable housing at Central Park and in the greater Northeast Denver/Northwest Aurora communities. ​

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It was a story decades in the making.

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