Dick’s Sporting Goods is coming to Lakeshore Mall as part of a redevelopment plan for the mall property, according to a news release from Lakeshore.

The 50,475-square-foot store will occupy the portion of the mall between Sears and JCPenney. It is set to open in fall 2013.

Stores currently in that space, including Kay Jewelers, LensCrafters, GNC and Body Central, will relocate to new spaces on the other side of JCPenney this fall.

Kirsten Boettcher, Lakeshore Mall’s marketing manager, said the move should not cause any down time for stores in the mall.

“This will be the first Dick’s Sporting Goods store in the Hall County area and we are thrilled that they have chosen to open at Lakeshore Mall,” Michael Weinberger, the mall’s general manager, said in the news release. “It will be an excellent addition to the mall and to the growing Gainesville market.”

The announcement Monday marks the first phase of a redevelopment plan for the mall, which Coyote Management L.P. and Garrison Investment Group purchased in 2010 following a previous owner’s bankruptcy.

Boettcher declined to offer specifics of the plan, but Tim Evans, vice president of economic development for the Greater Hall Chamber of Commerce, said Dick’s was a major part of it.

A spokesperson for Dick’s Sporting Goods did not return a call seeking comment.

Boettcher said talks with the sporting goods store date back at least a year, and mall executives are hoping the new store will drive traffic to the mall.

Evans thinks it will. He worked with mall developers and city leaders over the last year and a half to help facilitate the mall’s redevelopment.

“It’s another one of those good retail projects that helps make Gainesville a destination for retail services,” said Evans, who said the city has already become a destination for medical and professional services.

Work on the new store is expected to start this week, he said.

The addition of the sporting goods giant also will help eliminate an awkward division that separates stores currently located between two anchors, Sears and JCPenney, and the rest of the mall.

Evans said a big part of the plan for Lakeshore Mall’s new owners has been to eliminate that division in anchor stores and smaller retail.

“I think a lot of people didn’t walk through (JCPenney) to get to the other side,” Evans said. “That was a very confusing layout ... nobody’s been happy with it for a long time.”