You also say it has boiler heat. Where are the radiators in the basement? I’m guessing on the outside walls, but there will be water runs on each end.
Being it is a potential new house, one that you can modify, it might be good to take it from a standpoint of the fact there is nothing in the way to prevent modifications at this point. Plan the best area for the layout, then modify the bar to fit elsewhere, get the lighting for the layout figured out and any other electrical needs. Typically, older houses have limited outlets and lighting in the basement. It’s easier to deal with that without a layout where you need to work.
It’s not new, it was built in 1972. Not much I cna change at this point - though none of the walls in the basement are load bearing, so in th extreme it would be possible to rip it ALL out and repartition the space. Certin things will have to stay where they are - the basement bathroom, the laundry appliances, because that’s where all the hookups are. The boiler and water heater will also need to stay where they are, but I could easily redo the walls to locate the door in a more favorable position. Would be nice not to have to do that, but it is an option to make better use of the space.
Thing is - how much would I gain? If I say, pushed the laundry room further to the left and made it smaller, that would open some space to the left of the stairs as well as under the stairs - not exactly prime space. I could leave things as they are and run the tracks through the wall into the laundry and put staging in there. Maybe even fiddle staging, since someone could sit in there and be isolated from the rest of the layout.
The heat is gas fired hot water, with 3 zones - the basement is its own zone, and the pipes run vertically in the stud walls around the perimeter and then across the ceiling joists up above the drop ceiling. Even the garage is heated - no more getting into a cold car (I only have on-street parking here).
Electrically, the panel has room for about 6 more circuits. Since the basement is drop celiling, it wouldn’t be too hard to run additional circuits as needed. Though there are plenty of outlets around the basement area.
–Randy