ORIGINAL 9 AM REPORT: As reported here January 22, the two Prudential Northwest Realty locations in West Seattle recently consolidated operations at Jefferson Square, vacating the California SW branch. This morning, another big change is being announced at that firm: previous owner Mike Gain (12/07 WSB photo at left), long a major name in West Seattle real estate sharing the helm of Cayce and Gain, is taking over. We received word of this from two sources last night, and Gain answered our query this morning by saying he’ll send a news release with full details as soon as it’s available, so we’ll get more info a bit later. ADDED 11:52 AM: Here’s the news release in its entirety:

Prudential Northwest Realty Associates, a 7-office residential brokerage firm with 575 agents and a relocation firm headquartered in Bellevue, WA, has recently announced a management change. Mike Gain, the former owner of Prudential Northwest Realty Associates and Cayce & Gain Real Estate, and a 30-year veteran in the Greater Seattle real-estate industry, has assumed the management of the Puget Sound Company. Gain has assembled a leadership group to assist him in the firm’s ongoing operations. Roger Cayce, Michael Smith, and Al Lynch will make up that leadership team. Roger Cayce, Gain’s business partner for over 30 years, will assist and consult in operations activities. Michael Smith, former owner of Prudential Michael Smith Realtors, brings 36 years of real estate experience to the company, and will head up the firm’s eastside operations, including Business Development and Corporate Marketing Services. Al Lynch, former manager of the firm’s West Seattle/Jefferson Square office with over 20 years in real estate experience and an extensive background in business and finance, will serve as the firm’s Chief Operating Officer.

ADDED 1:41 PM: Reaction from one of the West Seattle-based Prudential realtors, Alice Kuder, who reports a “big turnout” for the official 9 am announcement today:

Many of the long time agents in this office worked for/with Mike during his previous ownership and they are VERY excited about his return. In fact, three different agents popped the corks on bottles of champagne to help celebrate the announcement. I’ve never heard anything but positive comments about Mike and his particular talent for positive leadership, so I’m very excited myself. I’ve been very happy here at Prudential, and now it seems as if the organization is getting even stronger! I’m a big believer/practitioner of the positive attitude overcoming all obstacles, so I’m thrilled to have another CEO who believes the same.