After 13 years as an independent firm, local commercial real estate brokerage 7 Hills Advisors has joined the ranks of a large out-of-town competitor. 7 Hills was acquired last week by Cresa, a Chicago-based firm with 55 offices throughout the U.S. and Canada and over 1,300 employees. The acquisition included 7 Hills’ Richmond office, which will operate under the Cresa brand. Similar to 7 Hills, Cresa also focuses primarily on representing tenants and touts itself as the largest tenant-rep-exclusive brokerage in the world. All of 7 Hills’ local staff is joining Cresa, with Jeffries and Hinton as principals, director Ali McCrickard as vice president and manager Laura Osborn as a marketing associate.