diff --git a/builder/googlecompute/config.go b/builder/googlecompute/config.go
index e79a92e64..28cc1d280 100644
--- a/builder/googlecompute/config.go
+++ b/builder/googlecompute/config.go
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@ type Config struct {
 	MachineType          string            `mapstructure:"machine_type"`
 	Metadata             map[string]string `mapstructure:"metadata"`
 	Network              string            `mapstructure:"network"`
+	Address              string            `mapstructure:"address"`
 	Preemptible          bool              `mapstructure:"preemptible"`
 	SourceImage          string            `mapstructure:"source_image"`
 	SourceImageProjectId string            `mapstructure:"source_image_project_id"`
diff --git a/builder/googlecompute/driver.go b/builder/googlecompute/driver.go
index 6a9c3d651..495c1e092 100644
--- a/builder/googlecompute/driver.go
+++ b/builder/googlecompute/driver.go
@@ -47,6 +47,7 @@ type InstanceConfig struct {
 	Metadata    map[string]string
 	Name        string
 	Network     string
+	Address     string
 	Preemptible bool
 	Tags        []string
 	Zone        string
diff --git a/builder/googlecompute/driver_gce.go b/builder/googlecompute/driver_gce.go
index b1e4d8d45..91d04255f 100644
--- a/builder/googlecompute/driver_gce.go
+++ b/builder/googlecompute/driver_gce.go
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ import (
 	"golang.org/x/oauth2/google"
 	"golang.org/x/oauth2/jwt"
 	"google.golang.org/api/compute/v1"
+	"strings"
 )
 
 // driverGCE is a Driver implementation that actually talks to GCE.
@@ -214,6 +215,23 @@ func (d *driverGCE) RunInstance(c *InstanceConfig) (<-chan error, error) {
 		return nil, err
 	}
 
+	// If given a regional ip, get it
+	accessconfig := compute.AccessConfig{
+		Name: "AccessConfig created by Packer",
+		Type: "ONE_TO_ONE_NAT",
+	}
+
+	if c.Address != "" {
+		d.ui.Message(fmt.Sprintf("Looking up address: %s", c.Address))
+		region_url := strings.Split(zone.Region, "/")
+		region := region_url[len(region_url)-1]
+		address, err := d.service.Addresses.Get(d.projectId, region, c.Address).Do()
+		if err != nil {
+			return nil, err
+		}
+		accessconfig.NatIP = address.Address
+	}
+
 	// Build up the metadata
 	metadata := make([]*compute.MetadataItems, len(c.Metadata))
 	for k, v := range c.Metadata {
@@ -247,10 +265,7 @@ func (d *driverGCE) RunInstance(c *InstanceConfig) (<-chan error, error) {
 		NetworkInterfaces: []*compute.NetworkInterface{
 			&compute.NetworkInterface{
 				AccessConfigs: []*compute.AccessConfig{
-					&compute.AccessConfig{
-						Name: "AccessConfig created by Packer",
-						Type: "ONE_TO_ONE_NAT",
-					},
+					&accessconfig,
 				},
 				Network: network.SelfLink,
 			},
diff --git a/builder/googlecompute/step_create_instance.go b/builder/googlecompute/step_create_instance.go
index 891072438..f3f16a09f 100644
--- a/builder/googlecompute/step_create_instance.go
+++ b/builder/googlecompute/step_create_instance.go
@@ -59,6 +59,7 @@ func (s *StepCreateInstance) Run(state multistep.StateBag) multistep.StepAction
 		Metadata:    config.getInstanceMetadata(sshPublicKey),
 		Name:        name,
 		Network:     config.Network,
+		Address:     config.Address,
 		Preemptible: config.Preemptible,
 		Tags:        config.Tags,
 		Zone:        config.Zone,
diff --git a/website/source/docs/builders/googlecompute.html.markdown b/website/source/docs/builders/googlecompute.html.markdown
index fe45ee01b..cebb1d484 100644
--- a/website/source/docs/builders/googlecompute.html.markdown
+++ b/website/source/docs/builders/googlecompute.html.markdown
@@ -118,6 +118,9 @@ builder.
     Not required if you run Packer on a GCE instance with a service account.
     Instructions for creating file or using service accounts are above.
 
+-   `address` (string) - The name of a pre-allocated static external IP address. 
+    Note, must be the name and not the actual IP address. 
+
 -   `disk_size` (integer) - The size of the disk in GB. This defaults to `10`,
     which is 10GB.