Jim Nelson came up with the concept of a destination that would be analagous to an "adult amusement park". The idea was to build a one-of-a-kind shops, restaurants, clubs and entertainment venues such as cinemas and live performance areas. Based on reality rather than fantasy, CityWalk is designed to simulate an urban environment with all the details, architecture and streetscape of a real street.

As Jim's idea was to create the Hollywood environment that people imagined they would find when they came to Los Angeles, the project is covered with neon signs, over-scale icons and buildings that reflect the eclectic styles of the best the City has to offer. The result is a unique experience with an electric atmosphere that people enjoy many times over. Further, the wide variety of things to do combined with regular events and street performers makes CityWalk a place where people can go without a specific plan and be assured of a great time.

The wild success of CityWalk in terms of visitors, critical acclaim and revenues created a sensation in the real estate industry and led to a decade of rapid development of projects based on Jim's idea.

Aside from leading the entire planning and development process, Jim had to prepare an overall master plan for Universal City to establish the long term context for the project. This 13 million square foot plan was programmed by Jim and an orchestra of Planners, Architects and industry experts. Many of the infrastructure elements of the plan have already been built and the future will hopefully see the kind of innovative infill development that CityWalk represents.