TIJUANA, Mexico — Ask almost any of the local architects in this Mexican border town and they will tell you Tijuana has become a hotbed of building activity.

The growing demand for designer homes, they say, is being driven primarily by Tijuana natives returning to the city, which was once a glamorous gambling getaway for Hollywood celebrities but in more recent years has been the setting for roadside kidnappings and daylight shootouts between rival criminal groups. (The United States State Department’s travel warning for Mexico, updated in January, warns Americans to be cautious in the area, especially at night.)

“It is very safe now. It’s living through a post-traumatic stage, and there is a very strong cultural boom,” said Alfonso Medina, 31, an architect and builder who was born in Texas but raised here.

Mr. Medina showed a visitor around his architectural office, T38 Studio, which he established in 2009 just before graduating from the Southern California Institute of Architecture with a master’s degree in design and research. The office, where seven architects work, is in an upscale residential area overlooking the seemingly endless brown sprawl of this city of 1.3 million. He also has a branch office in New York.