Nectar’s has begun booking musical shows for the coming summer on the Vineyard, and club owners confirmed this week that they are negotiating to lease and eventually buy the building at the airport that formerly housed the Hot Tin Roof and Outerland.

“We are buying the property, we’ve agreed on a price and we are just waiting to complete the details,” said Christopher Walsh, a partner in Nectar’s. He could not comment on further details of the sale agreement, including purchase price, but he did say: “It’s going to be a good summer of music out there, that much I can guarantee you.”

Mr. Walsh and his three partners own Nectar’s in Burlington, Vt., a successful music club that among other things is the place where the band Phish got its start.

The club owners leased Outerland last summer from owner Arthur Rosenthal as a one-season trial, with an eye to possibly purchase the club if the season were successful.

It was, and early this year Mr. Walsh and his partners reported they were negotiating to buy the airport nightclub, in partnership with Flatbread, a Vermont-based, small family restaurant chain that makes wood-fired pizzas.

The deal has grown a bit more complicated since then due to the possible inclusion of the budding plans of Brion McGroarty, the owner of Town Provision Liquor in Edgartown, to build a liquor store adjacent to the nightclub. Mr. Walsh said he and his partners, including Flatbread, support the liquor store concept but are not wedded to it.

“We anticipate buying the property with or without Brion McGroarty,” Mr. Walsh said. “He came to us and said he really wanted to do this [liquor store] ... we think that down the road it could be beneficial to both businesses, and we really support his part of the project, but it’s more a situation where he needs us than we need him. We can’t do this business without Flatbread, but we can do it with or without a liquor store,” Mr. Walsh said. “If things don’t work out for him, we can still move ahead.”

Mr. McGroarty would not comment on his plans this week.

But Mr. Walsh confirmed that Mr. McGroarty indeed does have plans to build a large liquor store that he described as high-end.

The liquor store would need approvals from the town, the airport commission and likely also the Martha’s Vineyard Commission. Mr. McGroarty won approval earlier this year to swap his seasonal downtown liquor license with a year-round license held by Great Harbor Gourmet and Sprirts, a Main street liquor store owned by the Benjamin Hall family. The Edgartown selectmen and the state alcoholic beverage control commission approved the swap, and it is understood that Mr. McGroarty plans to take his license to the new venue at the airport, pending permit approvals.

Meanwhile, Mr. Walsh said he is excited about the new partnership with Flatbread, which plans to serve lunch and dinner. He said he expects between them the two business will hire 40 to 50 Islanders.

The Nectar’s and Flatbread owners still need lease approval from the airport commission. Mr. Walsh said he expects it to be a short-term lease since a sale is anticipated.

But the airport commission was still largely in the dark this week about plans for the property.

Airport commission chairman Constance R. Teixeira said she had no knowledge of summer plans for Nectar’s, and that the subject hasn’t yet come up at commission meetings this year.

And airport manager Sean Flynn, who is also the executive officer for the board of commissioners, said that he’s heard plenty of rumors about plans for the property, but has yet to see anything official.

“There seems to be this proposal floating everywhere around the airport, but not to us,” he said yesterday, admitting that all the talk amounts to a great deal of frustration on the part of the commission.

“We’re kind of sitting here waiting for a formal proposal. We haven’t even discussed it in any formal way, because we have no formal proposal. We can’t act until we have a formal proposal,” he said.

And the clock is ticking. Mr. Flynn said if the Nectar’s principals return with a proposal for use similar to that of last season, he anticipates a fairly speedy approval by the commission. But attaching a package store to the deal could complicate things. For starters, Mr. Flynn said the commission would want to open up a public comment period for any change of use attached to the property, which could extend over as many as 60 days. And it will take time for the commission to do its homework before voting on a modified plan.

“The airport commission is going to make sure that it pays full attention to what the ultimate use will be,” said Mr. Flynn.

Could this hurt the Nectar’s plans for the summer? “I think if they try to tie the two of them together, it would,” said Mr. Flynn.

In fact, he called plans for a package store a long shot at best. “I can pretty much say that it would not happen for this summer season, if there was going to be a package store proposal,” said Mr. Flynn.

He said Nectar’s would probably be fine on its own, however. “Nectar’s was approved there before. We see that as a continuance of the current use of the property. They were good tenants. They operated a good establishment. Nothing in their past performance would preclude them from receiving approval,” said Mr. Flynn.

Mr. Walsh said Nectar’s is ready to make a long-term commitment to the Vineyard. “We’re committed,” he said, adding: “How can you not want to do business in a place where everybody arrives with open arms and embraces you?”