Buoy Beer Co. has space in the Astoria Food Hub.

Seaside-based Sisu Brewing Co. is planning to expand into downtown Astoria with a brewpub and brewery.

Sisu has purchased the Astoria Food Hub building on Marine Drive, taking over space currently occupied by Buoy Beer Co., as well as a large unfinished area facing the Columbia River.

The sale gives Sisu 28,000 total square feet, plus a large basement, according to Jim Beasley, marketing director for the brewery’s parent company, TD&M Enterprises/Damarkom Inc.

The brewery intends to install a 30-barrel brewhouse at the new location — roughly three times the size of its current system, according to brewer Nick Nelson.

“We’re very excited,” he said.

Sisu, which opened in Seaside’s historic Times Theatre in 2018, has growing pains.

The brewery operates out of a small space at the theater, making beer on the stage behind the roll-down movie screen and off to the side. There is no room for canning or bottling.

That has limited Sisu to kegging beer for draft sales or offering customers to-go crowlers.

Sisu owns a canning line but has never used it. Under the new plan, Sisu would continue to operate its system in the 84-year-old theater with an emphasis on smaller, seasonal batches.

At the Food Hub, the brewery would be able to can its beer, paving the way for more expanded distribution.

There would also be room for potential barrel-aging of special beers.

Buoy Beer plans to leave the Food Hub at the end of the year.

Sisu is owned by a local family that is proud of its Finnish roots. The name of the brewery is a Finnish word for a combination of grit, resilience and bravery.

With an expansion into Astoria, the question looms how the company intends to deal with wastewater issues that have affected other breweries.

The city has mandated in essence that breweries collect and treat their wastewater separately, removing all solids, before releasing the treated water into the sewer system.

Fort George Brewery and Buoy Beer both operate large on-site treatment facilities. Obelisk Beer, which operates an 11-barrel system at its Bond Street brewery, also had to build a collection system before it could start making beer on the premises.

Beasley said Sisu is working with the city and consulting with other breweries.

Buoy Beer has been operating a brewpub with a full menu in the Food Hub, but the brewery recently announced that it will be leaving when its lease expires at the end of the year.

That cost-cutting move coincides with Buoy Beer’s takeover of the former Reach Break Brewing patio and brewery space on Duane Street.

That space allows Buoy to offer a taproom with additional room for a small pilot brewing system and distillery serving sister company Pilot House.

While Sisu is expected to start working on its new brewery early next year, there is no timeline for a public opening.

“We don’t want to rush it,” Beasley said. “We’re going slowly and methodically.”

Nelson said the brewery will be hiring additional staff once the Astoria location is open.