Some of the blight that has plagued North Main Street for years came crumbling down Thursday.

Work crews began knocking down two dilapidated buildings at 1516 and 1518 Main St. as part of a $2.2 million capital project by Family & Children’s Services of Niagara Inc. to consolidate its operations and create a one-stop family center.

“This is the very beginning of our project,” said Family & Children’s President and CEO Kenneth Sass. “We’re starting off with a bang.”

The nonprofit countywide agency acquired the two properties and the abandoned building next door last August. Thursday’s demolition will allow the lots to be used as a staging area for renovation work that will be done to the remaining building at 1522 Main St.

Sass said the building’s frame is being kept but the interior is being completely gutted and redesigned. It was once a furniture store and has been used as office space over the last several years, including the Niagara Falls Center for Independent Living. The renovation is expected to take close to nine months to complete, he added.

Upon completion, the renovated building will serve as the new home office of Family & Children’s and will bring together 60 staff members who are currently disbursed in five locations across a 10 block area in Niagara Falls. It will also combine multiple services under one roof to benefit clients and assist employees in communication and the coordination of services between different program areas.

Sass said the agency is hoping to expand services in the future and utilize the now vacant lots at 1516 and 1518 Main St., which sit at the corner of Linwood Avenue and Main Street.

Family & Children’s, which has been located in Niagara Falls since 1895, offers 17 programs including family counseling, domestic violence and youth runaway support, mental health assistance and child abuse prevention. During a presentation made to the City Council in April 2008, Sass said 2,900 families were helped the previous year, including 1,750 from Niagara Falls.

The agency has been successful in raising $1.75 million over the past year toward the $2.2 million capital project, including $250,000 from the city. Falls officials have praised the development for not only eliminating vacant structures and blight along North Main Street but also for bringing in 60 employees and others to the struggling neighborhood, which could lead to spin-off development.

“Family and Children’s is a very stable organization ... we know they’re going to be there for a long time,” Niagara Falls Mayor Paul Dyster said. “This project is going to be a tremendous asset to Main Street. That corner at Linwood and Main has long been really just one step away from what needs to happen.”

Contact reporter Rick Forgione

at 282-2311, ext. 2257.