As of today, the long-promised Jollibee on Market Street is still sitting dark, and the culprit is not construction delays or missing permits, but rooftop machinery that flunked a city noise test. Until that equipment quiets down, San Francisco will keep waiting for the fried chicken and peach mango pies. The 2,600-square-foot conversion of the former Payless at 934 Market Street, billed as Jollibee’s first San Francisco outpost since 2011, has been stalled for years with no opening date in sight.
Historic review and planning approvals
Getting from vacant storefront to fast-food hotspot has meant running a bureaucratic gauntlet. The project needed sign-off from multiple city offices, including the Historic Preservation Commission, which ultimately approved relatively modest exterior changes. The building sits in the Kearny-Market-Mason-Sutter conservation district, and the work was processed as an alteration exempt from CEQA, according to the San Francisco Planning Department.
How the noise rule works
San Francisco’s rules for mechanical noise are stricter than many residents might expect. For commercial properties, mechanical equipment cannot raise sound levels more than 8 A-weighted decibels above the local ambient level at the property line. The Department of Public Health enforces that limit as part of its permitting process. The ordinance describes the rule as a public-health measure to protect people from unwanted, excessive and avoidable noise, and allows the department to withhold or condition permits when rooftop units push levels beyond the cap, according to the San Francisco Department of Public Health.
The test that stalled the health permit
For Jollibee’s Market Street buildout, an acoustical firm set up two Norsonic Type 1 meters on the roof for 46 hours. The firm measured the condensing units at roughly 68 dBA during the day and 64 dBA at night, resulting in about 4 to 5 dBA over the thresholds for the area. The report suggested mitigation such as wrapping and insulating the equipment, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. Because of those readings, the Department of Public Health has said it cannot issue the restaurant’s health permit until the machinery complies with the ordinance or an exception is granted, the Chronicle reported. Jollibee has wrapped and insulated some rooftop units and ordered follow-up testing, but city reviewers later flagged a subsequent study for measuring units one by one instead of evaluating the full system together.
A tangle of agencies, fees and underground utilities
The site’s location does not make things any easier. The restaurant sits above transit infrastructure and next to a public plaza, so the project has needed sign-offs from PG&E, Muni and BART, along with reviews by several city departments. In April 2024, the Board of Supervisors approved a resolution authorizing a license for Honeybee Foods (Jollibee USA) to occupy about 414 square feet of underground Hallidie Plaza space for utility lines that are tied to the lease through December 8, 2034, according to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.
Where things stand now
In written statements to the San Francisco Chronicle, Jollibee said it is “working closely and diligently with all local city agencies,” while Mayor Daniel Lurie pointed to PermitSF as a tool intended to move approvals along. On its U.S. location page, Jollibee still lists 934 Market Street as “Opening Soon,” without a firm date. Local outlets have chronicled the saga of missed timelines and tattered signage, including Hoodline’s earlier coverage. For now, the rooftop noise dispute is a reminder that in San Francisco, even a fast-food opening can hinge on a few extra decibels.
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