HCC ends negotiations with developer Greg Neal

TAMPA — Hillsborough Community College officials Wednesday did not end their relationship with a developer who misled them about his partners and credentials, but they declined to extend their negotiating deal with him.

"I do not recommend that we continue this exclusive agreement," college president Gwendolyn Stephenson told the college's Board of Trustees. No one objected to the suggestion.

Now HCC will wait for a response from Greg Neal, the developer whose three-year pattern of overstatement was reported in Sunday's St. Petersburg Times. Neal wants to build a giant sports-medicine complex on property owned by the college, but made inaccurate claims about his college degrees and his links with several major firms.

Officials said they want to discuss the article's findings with Neal.