A longtime home of a Tennessee healthcare IT firm will remain in Alpharetta. But whether that space becomes the HQ for a potential new company remains to be seen.

Nashville-based Change Healthcare has inked a renewal deal for 78k SF at Deerfield Corporate Centre Two in North Fulton County. The deal comes as Change awaits Department of Justice approval for its proposed merger with McKesson's IT business.

That deal, assuming no hiccups, is supposed to close in the first half of 2017. Then the as-yet-unnamed, new company will decide on a potential headquarters location, says Change spokeswoman Julie Trudell. She notes Change has offices in Tennessee, Atlanta and Boston while McKesson has a significant presence in San Francisco.

Its office network will be examined once the deal closes. Asked if Atlanta is in the running, she says it's premature for any comment. That said, sources tell us metro Atlanta is indeed being eyed heavily for the new company's potential HQ location.

And actually, Change's presence in Deerfield comes from an inherited situation. The space was the longtime home for Altegra Health, which was purchased by Emdeon last year in a $900M-plus deal. Soon after the acquisition, Emdeon changed its moniker to Change.

Julie says the firm uses the Alpharetta office as a call center. The deal was brokered by JLL's Josh Hirsh, Ryanne Pennington and Brannan Moss for the tenant and JLL's Kay Younglove (above) and David Horne for the landlord, Banyan Street Capital.