  Competing interactions in low-dimensional materials can produce nearly
degenerate electronic and structural phases. We investigate the staircase of
structural phase transitions in layered IrTe$_2$ for which a number of
potential transition mechanisms have been postulated. The spatial coexistence
of multiple phases on the micron scale has prevented a detailed analysis of the
electronic structure. By exploiting micro-ARPES obtained with synchrotron
radiation we extract the electronic structure of the multiple structural phases
in IrTe$_2$ in order to address the mechanism underlying the phase transitions.
We find direct evidence of lowered energy states that appear in the
low-temperature phases, states previously predicted by \textit{ab initio}
calculations and extended here. Our results validate a proposed scenario of
bonding and anti-bonding states as the driver of the phase transitions.
