Three kinds of 3D isomorphous and isostructural coordination polymers, namely, ${[Ln_2(PDA)_3(H_2O)_3]{cdot}0.25H_2O}_{infty}$ (Ln = La(1), Sm(2), and Gd(3)) ($PDA^{2-}$ = pyridine-2,6-dicarboxylate anion) have been synthesized under hydrothermal conditions and characterized by elemental analyses, IR spectroscopy, thermal analyses and single crystal X-ray diffraction. In these MOFs, Ln(III) centers adopt eight-coordinated and nine-coordinated with the $N_1O_7$ and $N_2O_7$ donor sets to construct distorted trianglar dodecahedron geometry and tricapped trigonal prism configurations, respectively. Based on the building block of tetranuclear homometallic $Ln_4C_4O_8$ unit (16-membered ring), 1-3 are connected into highly ordered 2D sheets via O-C-O linkers and further constructed into 3D architectures through hydrogen bonds. Crystallographic parameters suggest that the lanthanide contraction effect exist in these coordination polymers. Luminescent properties of the lanthanide-based MOFs (metal-organic frameworks) have been measured at room temperature, which reveal that they presenting ionselective characters toward certain metals, such as $Mg^{2+}$, $Cd^{2+}$ and $Pb^{2+}$ ions.