Ikea’s proposal to build a megastore in Red Hook yesterday moved one step closer to reality as Brooklyn’s borough president, Marty Markowitz, threw his support behind the $80 million development plan.

The Swedish furniture chain’s proposal now moves to the City Planning Commission with a wave of momentum even as its critics pledged to continue efforts to squash the plan.

In giving Ikea his official recommendation, Mr. Markowitz cited the 600 jobs the company says the store will create as a major factor in his decision.

“Ikea’s proposal is the best opportunity we have seen in ages to provide jobs and break the cycle of unemployment in Red Hook,” Mr. Markowitz said in a statement.

Mr. Markowitz’s recommendation comes a month after Community Board 6 voted overwhelmingly to approve the project.

Ikea wants to build a 346,000 square foot store, along with a new waterfront esplanade, on a 22-acre site in Red Hook. The company has been vigorously promoting the plan in the largely low-income community for more than two years, sweetening the proposal with a promise that all new jobs would be open first to Red Hook residents.

Ikea’s commitment to the area has garnered strong support from Red Hook’s many public housing residents, who hailed Mr. Markowitz’s recommendation yesterday.

“The number one priority was jobs,” said resident Elsie Felder. “Right now, [Ikea is] showing that they’re going to be a good neighbor, and that’s important.”

Opponents of the Ikea store note that the company has not guaranteed any jobs to Red Hook residents, but said simply that there would be a two-week window when only residents in the 11231 zip code could submit job applications. The chain is also providing job-training programs in advance of the store’s opening.

Still, Ms. Felder and others are pushing Ikea to put its job commitment in writing, something the company has been reluctant to do.

In a statement yesterday, a spokesman for Ikea thanked Mr. Markowitz and its supporters in Brooklyn while acknowledging the large scale of its proposal.

“They have all recognized that while Ikea Red Hook may be a big idea, big ideas are what Brooklyn has always been about,” said the spokesman, Jamie Van Bramer.

The plan’s leading critics said they were disappointed, but not surprised, by Mr. Markowitz’s stance.

“I am hopeful that as more information becomes available on the project, he will change his position,” said John McGettrick, the co-chair of the Red Hook Civic Association. Mr. McGettrick said that many factors, including the proposal’s possible impact on traffic and the environment, have been overlooked, and that many of the jobs Ikea is promising either already exist or can be created by other developments.