When most people think of Massport, they think of Logan Airport. And rightly so, since Logan Airport represents 85 percent of our total budget.

But the enabling legislation in 1956 also entrusted us with a responsibility equally important to operating the airport.

Massport is charged with protecting the Working Port of Boston. It’s even encapsulated in the selection of our name – the Massachusetts Port Authority.

Protecting the working Port of Boston means protecting the 7,000 mainly blue collar jobs that exist there now. Many cities are trying to create blue collar jobs. With the support of Gov. Charlie Baker and Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh, we already have them.

But the maritime businesses we support in South Boston and Charlestown are not big money makers. In fact, they have to be subsidized.

That is why the stewardship of our historic landholdings in South Boston is so important.  Commercial real estate development subsidizes the port.

So how has Massport done over the years as a commercial real estate developer?

The recent announcement about the 1,054-room Omni Hotel across from the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center is the third hotel we have developed along with the Seaport Hotel and the Renaissance Boston Waterfront Hotel. And a new Hyatt is on the way, for a total of four hotels to date.

Commercial office space has been a priority for Fidelity, our pioneering partner. And we’ve worked with them on the World Trade Center, Fidelity West Office Building and Fidelity East Office Building for example. Others have followed. John Hancock has also had a major presence with their Boston headquarters – all of these on Massport property.

Contributing to the residential portfolio in South Boston are John Drew’s Waterside Place I and now II about to break ground, Joe Fallon’s Park Lane Seaport Apartments and Lincoln Properties forthcoming apartment and hotel project – all on Massport land.

Finally, the five great restaurants on Massport’s Liberty Wharf contribute to the vitality of the South Boston Waterfront.

These pioneering projects, as well as several others on Massport property, served to define and catalyze commercial development in the area and underpin the building boom currently underway.

So Massport is responsible for 6 million square feet and $2.6 billion of private investment in commercial real estate development. Not bad for a fish and plane outfit.

Thomas P. Glynn, PhD, is CEO of Massport.