The Municipal Art Society unveiled two alternative plans yesterday to save five historic buildings and a dry dock from the wrecking ball as IKEA plans to move into Red Hook. The new plans allow for the approximately 346,000 square-foot big-box Swedish furniture store to be built, but also preserve the Civil War-era buildings, which are now destined to become a parking lot.

The MAS, a nonprofit preservation organization, asked architect Harold Fredenburgh to devise a plan to incorporate both the IKEA and the historic buildings and keep the working dry dock, while saving approximately 100 jobs at the site.

“Instead of one plan, he came up with two,” said MAS spokesman Brian Connolly.

The MAS says that Mr. Fredenburgh’s alternative plans meet all of IKEA’s parking-space requirements, preserve the buildings and dry dock, and add a buffer space between the historic area and the store.

The IKEA site has been fraught with problems, as demolition of the 1864 pump house was halted and city and state fines were issued last month after employees and residents were exposed to asbestos during demolition. Most recently, a lawsuit was filed last week on behalf of Red Hook residents, alleging that the site was illegally rezoned using a faulty environmental impact statement.

Preservationists hope that these snags will lead IKEA to give their plans some further thought. “It’s not just an antique curiosity, but a piece of working infrastructure,” said the director of preservation efforts for MAS, Lisa Kersavage. “We are optimistic that IKEA could be the hero and do the right thing,” she said.

While the pump house has been partially demolished, Mr. Fredenburgh thinks it may be able to be repaired. Although the five historic buildings are no longer in use, the dry dock at the site has been in continuous operation since it was built in the 1860s and is one of only two in New York Harbor that can accommodate and service large ships.

The Todd Shipyard Graving Dock, now known as the New York Shipyards, was listed among the state’s “Seven to Save” most endangered landmarks last month by the Preservation League of New York State. Preservation groups say the five connected buildings are eligible for the state and national register of historic places, but since they are not landmarked, there is no protection against demolition.

Although IKEA plans to demolish the buildings, the company’s sense of the site’s history has not been lost. The plans for the 22-acre shopping complex include a 6.3-acre public waterfront esplanade, which will include five historic gantry cranes serving to educate visitors about the site’s role in maritime history.

Opponents to the tear-down plan say the best way to preserve the area’s history is to preserve the buildings themselves. The president of the Preservation League of New York State, Jay DiLorenzo, said that the waterfront buildings “represent a great opportunity for the rebirth of Red Hook” through the redevelopment of historic buildings and the addition of new structures. “We want the two to be able to coexist,” he said.

“When IKEA says they will create 600 jobs, they should subtract the 100 jobs that will be lost [by the dry dock workers]. With our scheme, we could have both,” Ms. Kersavage said. “It’s a real win-win.”

Other urban areas, such as Baltimore, have incorporated historical maritime structures into a revitalized waterfront, and Red Hook can do the same, Mr. DiLorenzo said. But, he added, “they very rarely do it by taking a big-box store and dropping it on the waterfront.”

The alternative plans unveiled yesterday are “fresh off the drawing board,” Ms. Kersavage said. The next step will be to share them with the Army Corps of Engineers, which is reviewing the project, and IKEA. Preservationists are holding out hope that IKEA may have a change of heart. “There are ways to do this,” Mr. DiLorenzo said. “The question is do the developers want to go down that path?”