It's a surprisingly nice view.

The Southside's Flatiron building, towering over the small businesses and residences of the surrounding neighborhood, is little more than an awkwardly skinny oddity for most passersby. A five-story wedge that suddenly looms above motorists and peels apart the roadway, splitting small businesses on Broadway from residences on Fourth Street.

Many know that behind the friendly clock on its forward façade lies a Wells Fargo bank branch and, upstairs for now at least, local NPR station WDIY. But few realize huge sections of the century-old building have remained empty and crumbling for many years.

City officials and investors announced during a small party April 24 that renovations will soon begin in several areas, focusing on the currently vacant fifth floor.

It was a bright and clear early afternoon and the cavernous front room, lined all along with tall windows, offers a view out over much of the Southside; usually invisible shops, homes and small streets all right there, while in the distance recognizable edifices from Lehigh University and Bethlehem Steel ground one's sense of location.

The $2 million project, made possible largely by its placement in the Keystone Innovation Zone and government tax credits, will see the 1905 building refurbished and given new purpose with office and residential space supported by green technologies.

Mayor Bob Donchez, State Senator Lisa Boscola and developer Larry Eighmy took turns stressing the importance of the working relationship between the government and private sector to drive growth and renew potential in old properties.

EIghmy said grants, loans and incentives allows more urban projects such as this to compete with greenfields, and being environmentally conscious helps with long-term planning and assistance from Alternative Clean Energy grants. He said labor will likely begin by the end of the month and be completed in a year.