EAST LANSING — Instead of smoke from burning couches, construction cranes rise in the sky over East Lansing, signs of a new age for the city and of its changing relationship with Michigan State University students.

"When you see construction going on, that speaks for itself," said Joshua Gillespie, a local real estate investor.

Gillespie, who lives in Holt, once served as complex director at Holden Hall, a MSU dormitory. He remembers revelers rampaging through the city on March 27, 1999

Today, he sees an evolving community, developers planning to invest at least half a billion dollars over the next several years, evidence that college students may be valued more than ever in East Lansing.

Several factors — excitement about living and working in East Lansing, attractions like the Broad Art Museum and the campus and community's vibrancy — drive this investment, said Peter Dewan, chair of East Lansing's Downtown Development Authority.

And none of it would be possible if students and others were still behaving the way people did during the 1999 riot, Dewan said.

"Investment dollars can go anywhere," Dewan said. "(Developers) invest in an area that’s growing, that has a good culture, where they can get a return on their investment and are building toward the greater good."

Jeff Cooper, co-owner of Campus Barbers, 621 E. Grand River, wonders why it's taken so long for people to realize its better to bank on this college town than go further away.

The riot of 1999 seemed to scare investors off, Cooper said.

He doesn't understand why apartment complexes suddenly popped up several miles north of campus.

"The whole idea after all that commotion was 'We need to get the students and move them out of town,'" Cooper said. "That was a huge mistake because this is a college town."

Police change their strategy after the 1999 riot

The East Lansing Police Department learned a lot during the riot and in subsequent events sparked by MSU sports wins and losses, said Deputy Chief Steve Gonzalez.

"In '99, the accepted police practice nationwide for large crowd controls was a mobile field force," he said, referring to groups of officers clad in riot gear working to disperse crowds.

The department now uses smaller groups of officers to address crowds. They arrest individuals inciting the behavior, rather than confront entire crowds comprised mostly of observers, Gonzalez said.

The department's response didn't change overnight. Police clashed with rioters again in 2003 and in 2005. During the latter disturbance, police agencies used more than 300 tear gas grenades, tear gas rounds, sting ball grenades, triple chaser grenades, continuous discharge grenades and other munitions.

It was, in part, the intensity of that response that prompted East Lansing to create a commission to investigate the incident.

By that time officers had to break up a rebooted Cedar Fest in 2008, they used only 13 teargas canisters.

Gonzalez said the department's stance on the use of tear gas has also evolved.

"If it gets to the point where we are required to use any type of tear gas, then we’ve gotten to point where we've truly lost control of a crowd," Gonzalez said. "We never want to do that."

MSU's vice president for student affairs looks back: 'I hope we've matured'

Lee June, 73, was MSU's vice president for student affairs in 1999. During the riot, he walked the streets of East Lansing until about 3 a.m.

As June saw cars being turned over, he prayed several times that destruction would not escalate further.

"We were kind of on the edge of what was happening and what would happen,” June said of the riot.

Now retired from his vice president's post but still a member of MSU's faculty, June works out of the MSU Union and said he's pleased to see the university make efforts to improve student life.

Within the past decade, MSU has spent millions to refurbish dormitories and dining halls with more open floor plans, an effort to keep students on campus longer.

Officials also have created more indoor meeting and study spaces on campus as enrollment has ballooned from 43,000 in 1999 to a current tally of about 50,000.

There's always room for improvement, June said. He'd like to see larger recreation facilities on campus and a designated go-to place for students to gather, especially during times of celebration.

"It can happen again," said June of another riot. "But I hope we’ve matured."

Following the 1999 riot, the police, students, East Lansing residents, city officials and other stakeholders met regularly to discuss the proper procedures to follow during public demonstrations and celebratory events.

MSU is now a leader in planning for and responding to large celebratory events, said Dennis Martell, who chairs the MSU Celebrations Committee.

"We now advise 12 universities on how to construct supportive environments for celebratory activities," he noted.

Students today are drinking less often and in smaller amounts than they were two decades ago, according to a 2018 National Collegiate Health survey. In 2000, the average MSU undergrad reported drinking more than five-and-a-half drinks when they partied. Last year, they reported on average drinking less than four drinks.

Martell said MSU surveys conducted in the years following the riot consistently showed a vast majority of students – up to 98% - disapproved of destructive celebrations.

The memory of the riot can still be found on a T-shirt

Campus Street Sportswear at 515 E. Grand River Ave. still sells a T-shirt that recalls 1999 and other fiery celebrations that occurred around campus.

"East Lansing: Where no couch is safe," it says, alongside a picture of a couch in flames.

"People mostly have fun with it," store general manager Tom Tatum said of the shirt. "And it seems like the police department is pretty on top of" actual riot prevention.

Sales picked up following the MSU football team's 2013 Big Ten Championship Game defeat of Ohio State in Indianapolis, which secured a Rose Bowl spot.

A man held a sign during the nationally televised game's final seconds that read "Burn the Couch."

Tatum doesn't see it as glorifying violence and destruction.

"It's just a T-shirt," he said. "It's a sense of humor."