When organic chemistry, a notoriously difficult college course, got the better of Scott Spector during his freshman year at the University of Michigan, he had to rethink his dreams of going into sports medicine.

Spector, a lacrosse player at the school, pivoted to its architecture program, for which physics, a subject he excelled at, was a requirement. After graduation, Spector pursued his master's degree in architecture at the University of Maryland and ended up following in his father's footsteps.

Spector's dad, Michael Harris Spector, started his eponymous architecture firm, Spectorgroup, in the mid-1960s. The younger Spector joined the company in 1987 and took over in 1998 — a year before his father retired — and spearheaded the opening of its New York City office; his father died in 2018. The firm was at first based on Long Island, but it later moved into the city and as of almost two years ago is now headquartered at 200 Madison Ave. — a space that, naturally, Spector's team designed.

Now approaching its 60th anniversary, Spectorgroup has become one of the premier architecture firms for major building renovations and commercial interiors in the New York City metro area. The firm opened an office in Miami about a year ago. Spector says his work has taken him all over the country. For his next big projects, he has his sights set on West Palm Beach, Chicago, Atlanta and Austin.

"I spend roughly 90% of my time in the New York metro area," he said. "But all these lovely clients keep taking us everywhere. So I tend to be on a plane a little bit more often than normal."

Spector serves as the principal of the firm. He spends part of his days doing typical office work, such as collaborating with his team and communicating with current and prospective clients. But a large chunk of his week is spent actually touring the sites on which he plans to work.

Spector also oversees the entire firm to ensure the completion of each project, which recently included office spaces for Citrin Cooperman, Applied Underwriters and The Carlyle Group. He finds the creative process to be the most fulfilling part of his work and enjoys seeing the end result.

"I take pride in being able to shape the way that people live, work and experience the built environment," he said.

In the five boroughs, Spectorgroup has handled projects everywhere but Staten Island. His team has designed the headquarters for large accounting firms and well-known technology, legal and entertainment companies such as Colliers, Uber and VaynerMedia. The firm also helped redevelop Brookfield Place and the old Jehovah's Witnesses watchtower in Dumbo, which was bought in 2013 by RFR Realty and Kushner Cos.

Spector's team mainly focuses on commercial buildings but plans to take on more specialty retail, concierge-type environments and fashion showrooms in the near future.

Last year, Spector estimates, his firm worked on projects that totaled between $250 million and $300 million in construction costs, and said he averages around the same each year on about 150 different projects. The firm typically takes in about $15 million a year in architectural fees associated with that work, including for design and other basic services, he said.

The key to designing a world-class building, Spector says, is using materials that not only look the best aesthetically but are also the most structurally sound — a lesson he learned from his father.

"If you're going to go into the world of architecture, you have to have an education not only in design, but you also need to understand how to build a building," he said. "If you come in with just the fantasy of the architectural design, you need that foundation — literally — to understand how to put things together."